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COUSIN   LUCY 


AMONG  THE 


MOUNTAINS. 


AUTHOR  OF  THE  EOLLO  BOOKS. 


A  NEW  EDITION, 
REVISED   BY   THE    AUTHOR 


NEW  YORK: 
CLARK,   AUSTIN   &   SMITH, 

8    PARK  ROW  AND   3   ANN-STREET, 

1854. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1842, 

By  B.  B.  MUSSEY, 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  Massachusetts. 


PREFACE. 


This  volume,  with  its  companion, 
Cousin  Lucy  upon  the  Sea-Shore, 
is  intended  as  a  continuation  of  Lucy's 
history,  four  volumes  of  which  have  been 
already  published.  They  present  to  the 
juvenile  reader  an  account  of  the  gradual 
progress  made  by  our  little  heroine  in 
the  acquisition  of  knowledge,  and  in  the 
formation  of  character,  though  in  very 
different  scenes  from  those  in  which  the 
incidents  of  the  preceding  volumes  have 
been  laid. 


g 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER   I.                          PagB 
Fording, £ 


CHAPTER   II. 
The  General's, ii 

CHAPTER  III. 
The  Inspection, 3c 

CHAPTER  IV. 
A  Walk, 51 

CHAPTER  V. 
Robert's  Clearing, 64 

CHAPTER  VI. 
Philosophy, 82 

CHAPTER  VII. 
The  Slab 96 


8  CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

Pago. 

Shopping, 109 


CHAPTER  IX. 
An  Escape, 122 

CHAPTER  X. 
Effect  133 

CHAPTER  XL 
The  Gap  among  the  Mountains, 146 

CHAPTER  XII. 
Pump-Making, 153 

CHAPTER  XIII. 
The  Return, 167 


LUCY    AMONG    THE   MOUNTAINS. 


CHAPTER    I 
FORDING. 


One  summer  afternoon,  in  the  fall  of  the  year, 
just  after  sunset,  there  was  a  chaise  coming  down 
a  long  hill  in  the  woods.  The  hill  was  steep,  and 
there  was  a  rocky  precipice  on  one  side  of  the 
road.     There  were  lofty  mountains  all  around. 

In  the  chaise  there  were  three  persons  —  a  gen- 
tleman, a  lady,  and  a  little  girl.  The  girl  was 
Rollo's  cousin  Lucy.  The  gentleman  and  lady 
were  her  father  and  mother.  They  were  taking 
a  journey. 

The  country  was  very  wild  and  mountainous, 
and  the  road  desolate  and  solitary.  If  it  had  been 
morning,  Lucy  would  have  been  pleased  with  the 
cliffs  and  precipices,  and  the  towering  summits  of 
the  mountains.     But  now,  as  the  sun  had  gone 


10      LUCY  AMONG  THE  MOUNTAINS. 

down,  it  seemed  lonely.  In  fact,  Lucy  was  a 
little  afraid. 

"  How  much  farther  have  we  got  to  go  ?  "  she 
asked. 

"  I  don't  know,"  said  her  father;  "it  must  be 
several  miles." 

"  Hark  !  father,"  said  Lucy,  again  ;  "  I  hear  a 
roaring." 

"  Yes,"  said  her  father ;  "  it  is  down  in  the 
valley  below  us." 

Lucy  said  nothing  in  reply  to  this ;  but,  if  her 
father  could  have  seen  her  face,  he  would  have 
perceived  that  she  looked  anxious  and  pale.  She 
aid  not  know  what  that  roaring  could  be. 

"  I  presume  there  is  a  stream  there,"  said  her 
father,  —  "  perhaps  a  small  river." 

"  O,"  said  Lucy,  "  a  river  roaring.  I  didn't 
know  but  that  it  might  be  —  some  —  some  wild 
beasts." 

Lucy  was  a  little  ashamed  of  her  fears,  and  so 
she  spoke  hesitatingly. 

Her  mother  smiled  faintly,  and  then  immedi- 
ately looked  serious  again.  In  fact,  her  mother 
was  a  little  afraid  herself.  She  did  not  like  cross- 
ing rivers  so  late,  in  strange  and  wild  places. 
She  was  afraid  that  the  bridge  might  break  down. 

Lucy's  father,  however,  said  that  he  presumed 


FORDING.  11 

that  the  bridge  was  perfectly  safe,  for  he  thought 
they  would  have  a  good  bridge  on  a  road  so  much 
travelled  as  that  appeared  to  be. 

He  was,  however,  in  error  in  all  his  calculations 
on  the  subject ;  for,  as  it  happened,  there  was  no 
bridge  at  all.  He  learned  this  before  he  came  to 
the  river ;  for,  when  they  had  reached  the  bottom 
of  the  hill,  they  met  a  man  on  horseback,  and  so 
they  stopped  to  inquire  of  him  about  their  road. 
They  asked  him  if  there  was  a  good  bridge  over 
that  stream  ;  and  he  said  that  there  was  no  bridge 
at  all,  but  that  there  was  a  very  good  place  to 
ford. 

"  O,  I  am  afraid  to  ford,"  said  Lucy's  mother. 

"  So  am  I,"  said  Lucy. 

"  Is  the  water  deep  ?  "  said  her  father  to  the 
man. 

"  No,  sir,"  replied  the  man,  "  not  if  you  keep  in 
the  right  place, — just  in  the  edge  of  the  rips." 
So  saying,  the  man  rode  on. 

Lucy's  father  then  moved  his  horse  slowly  on 
down  the  road,  which  gradually  descended  into  a 
ravine,  where  Lucy  could  hear  the  water  roaring. 
Lucy  said  that  she  was  afraid  to  have  the  horse 
wade  through  the  river. 

"  So  am  1,"  said  her  mother. 


12      LUCY  AMONG  THE  MOUNTAINS. 

"  I  don't  quite  like  the  adventure  myself,"  said 
her  father,  "  but  there  is  no  other  alternative." 

"  Can't  we  go  back  ? "  said  her  mother. 

"  Not  very  well.  It  is  several  miles  back  to 
any  place  where  we  could  spend  the  night*  and 
then  we  should  have  to  come  and  ford  this  stream 
to-morrow  morning ;  so  that  we  shouldn't  gain 
much." 

"  Only  it  would  be  light,"  said  Lucy. 

"  And  perhaps  we  might  find  some  other  way,,; 
said  her  mother. 

"  We'll  go  down  to  the  bank  of  the  stream,  and 
see,  at  any  rate,"  said  her  father.  And  he  ac- 
cordingly rode  on.  The  rocks  and  precipices 
were  so  high  on  each  side  of  the  road,  and  the 
river  itself  so  crooked,  winding  around  among 
them,  that  they  could  not  see  far  before  them. 
At  length,  however,  they  came  in  sight  of  the 
surface  of  the  water,  gleaming  through  the  trees 
before  them ;  and  in  a  few  minutes  more,  they 
came  down  to  the  bank  of  a  very  broad  stream. 

"O  dear  me!"  said  Lucy;  "I  am  sure  I  am 
afraid  to  wade  across  such  a  big  river  as  this." 

Her  father  said  nothing,  but  be  stopped  the 
horse  upon  the  sand  of  the  shore,  and  began  to 
look  up  and  down  over  the  water. 


FORDING.  13 

"  It  looks  very  shallow,"  said  he. 

"  What  is  shallow,  sir  ? "  said  Lucy. 

"  Wliy,  not  deep,"  replied  her  father. 

"  What  did  the  man  mean  by  the  rips  ?"  asked 
Lucy's  mother. 

"  He  meant  the  ripples  in  the  water  there,  all 
across  the  stream,  just  below  us."  So  saying, 
Lucy's  father  pointed,  and  showed  Lucy  and  her 
mother  where  the  water  was  rough,  being  full  of 
little  waves,  which  tumbled  along,  making  a  sort 
of  rippling  noise.  These  ripples  extended  quite 
across  the  stream  just  below  where  they  were. 
But  above  them,  the  surface  of  the  water  was 
calm  and  smooth,  like  glass.  This  calm  surface 
also,  like  the  ripples  below,  extended  across  from 
shore  to  shore. 

The  sun  had  been  set  for  some  time,  but  still 
there  was  a  great  deal  of  light  in  the  western  part 
of  the  sky.  This  light  shone  upon  the  water,  and 
enabled  them  to  see,  pretty  distinctly,  the  line 
of  the  rips,  where  the  man  had  said  that  they 
must  go. 

"  I  wouldn't  go  through  the  waves,  father,"  said 
Lucy  ;  "  I  would  go  where  the  water  is  smooth." 

"  No,"  said  her  father ;  "  we'll  follow  the  direc- 
tions." 

As  he  said  this,  he  began  to  drive  the  horse  into 
2 


14      LUCY  AMONG  THE  MOUNTAINS. 

the  water.  The  bottom  was  covered  with  fine 
pebble-stones,  so  that  it  was  by  no  means  as 
smooth  as  the  road  which  they  had  been  travelling 
in:  still  they  got  along  very  well.  The  water 
gradually  grew  deeper  and  deeper,  until  it  came 
up  to  the  step  of  the  chaise.  They  were  then 
in  about  the  middle  of  the  river. 

"  O  father,"  said  Lucy,  "  what  a  wide  river !  " 

"  Yes,"  said  her  father,  "  it  is  pretty  wide,  and 
I  believe  I'll  stop  the  horse  a  minute  or  two,  and 
let  you  look  about." 

So  he  pulled  the  reins  a  little,  and  said,  whoa, 
and  the  horse  stopped ;  while  Lucy  and  her 
mother  looked  up  and  down  the  river.  Lucy 
could  see  better  than  her  mother,  for  she  was 
seated  in  the  middle  of  the  chaise,  upon  a  low 
seat.  It  was  a  little  farther  forward  than  the  seat 
which  her  parents  were  sitting  upon,  so  that  she 
could  see  up  and  down  the  river  very  well.  The 
reflection  of  the  clouds  in  the  water  was  very 
beautiful,  and  there  were  trees  upon  the  banks, 
hano;ing  over  into  the  stream.  The  river  came 
round  between  two  high  hills,  a  short .  distance 
above  where  they  were,  and  there  were  crags, 
and  precipices,  and  high  mountains,  all  around. 

"1  see  one  house,"  said  Lucy's  mother. 

"  Where  is  it,  mother  ?  "  said  Lucv 


FORDING.  17 

Her  mother  pointed  towards  the  house.  It 
seemed  to  be  pretty  far  off  on  one  side  of  the 
valley,  far  above  where  they  were.  They  could 
not  see  its  situation  very  distinctly,  because  it  was 
so  nearly  dark ;  but  it  appeared  to  be  on  an 
elevated  table  of  land,  with  high  mountains  be- 
yond it. 

"  There  are  three  houses  there,"  said  Lucy. 
"  I  can  see  three." 

"  No,"  replied  her  father;  "  those  are  the  barns, 
I  presume ;  however,  we  must  drive  on." 

He  accordingly  drove  on.  Lucy  watched  the 
house  as  long  as  she  could.  It  was  not  very  large, 
and  was  painted  white,  and  there  was  an  enormous 
elm  hanging  over  it,  like  an  umbrella.  The  barns, 
which  Lucy  thought,  at  first,  were  other  houses, 
were  very  large ;  but  they  were  partly  hidden  by 
trees,  so  that  she  could  not  see  them  very  distinctly. 
And  presently,  when  the  horse  drew  near  the 
shore,  the  tops  of  some  large  pine-trees,  which 
grew  upon  the  bank,  came  in  the  way,  and  they 
lost  sight  of  the  house  altogether.  When  the 
horse  reached  the  opposite  bank  of  the  river,  he 
walked  up  the  ascent,  and  then  came  to  a  smooth 
and  pleasant  road,  through  a  level  mowing  field, 
with  groves  of  trees  upon  one  side  along  the  bank 
of  the  river.  The  level  field  did  not  extend  very 
2* 


18  LUCY    AMONG    THE    MOUNTAINS. 

far ;  and  when  they  came  to  the  end  of  it,  they 
began  to  ascend  a  hill.  A  short  distance  before 
them,  they  saw  a  man  coming  with  a  cart  and 
oxen. 

"  I  believe  I'll  stop,"  said  Lucy's  father,  "  and 
ask  him  how  far  it  is  to  the  next  tavern." 

"  Yes,"  said  Lucy ;  "  1  would." 

And  just  before  they  met  the  man,  her  mother 
said,  in  a  lower  tone,  "  Ask  him,  too,  whether 
we  shall  have  to  ford  another  stream." 

Just  at  that  minute,  they  saw  that  the  man  was 
driving:  his  team  out  of  the  road,  in  order  to  make 
room  for  them  to  pass ;  for  the  road  here  was 
quite  narrow.  When  they  got  opposite  to  him, 
he  stood  among  the  bushes,  with  one  arm  resting 
upon  the  yoke  of  his  oxen,  waiting  for  them  to 
pass.  He  nodded  to  them,  with  a  frank  and  pleas- 
ant expression  of  countenance. 

"Will  you  tell  me,  sir,"  said  Lucy's  father, 
"  how  far  it  is  to  the  next  tavern  ?  "  t 

"Why,  it's  —  not  far  from  five  miles  —  equal 
to  ten." 

"How  so?" 

"  O,  it's  right  up  and  down  hill  all  the  way." 

"  It  will  take  us  two  or  three  hours  to  get  there, 
then,"  said  Lucy's  father  to  her  mother.  Then 
he  turned  to  the  man  again,  and  said,  < — 


FORDING.  19 

"  Shall  we  have  any  other  stream  to  ford  be- 
fore we  get  there  ? " 

"  No,"  said  the  man,  "  no  other  stream ;  but 
you'll  have  to  cross  this  same  one  again  about  four 
miles  from  here." 

"  Ah !  "  said  her  father.  —  "  Is  it  a  pretty  good 
place  to  cross  ?  " 

"  Yes,  very  good,"  said  the  teamster. 

"  Better  than  it  is  down  here,  where  we  just 
came  across  ?  "  said  Lucy's  mother. 

"  No,"  said  the  man,  "  not  better  than  that ; 
we  don't  call  it  any  thing  crossing  there,  when  the 
water  is  as  low  as  it  is  now." 

Lucy's  mother  said  no  more,  and  her  father 
was  just  about  driving  on,  when  he  reined  up 
his  horse  again  a  moment  to  say,  — 

"  Then  there's  no  place  nearer  than  five  miles, 
where  we  can  put  up  to-night." 

"  Why,  yes,"  replied  the  man,  "  there's  the 
General's.  I  presume  you  could  get  accommo- 
dated up  here  at  the  General's." 

"  How  far  is  it  to  the  General's  ?  " 

"  O,  about  a  mile  and  a  half,"  replied  the 
man. 

"  Does  he  make  a  practice  of  entertaining 
travellers  ?  "  said  Lucy's  father. 

"  Why,  no,"  replied  the  man,  "  he  does  not 


20      LUCY  AMONG  THE  MOUNTAINS. 

exactly  make  a  practice  of  it ;  but,  then,  he's  very 
glad  to  see  them  when  they  come." 

"  And  he  makes  a  regular  charge  for  it,  does 
he?" 

"  O  yes,"  said  the  man  ;  "  you  needn't  be  con- 
cerned about  that ;  he's  very  reasonable  in  his 
charges." 

"  Well,  sir,  I'm  very  much  obliged  to  you," 
said  Lucy's  father ;  and  he  immediately  began  to 
whip  up  his  horse,  as  if  he  was  in  a  hurry  to  go 
along.  At  the  same  time,  he  turned  his  face 
away  from  the  man  towards  Lucy,  and  seemed  to 
be  trying  to  keep  from  laughing. .  Something  ap- 
peared to  amuse  him  very  much  ;  so  much,  in  fact, 
that  it  seemed  to  be  quite  difficult  for  him  to  keep 
sober  until  he  got  by  the  man. 

"  What  are  you  laughing  at,  father  ? "  said 
Lucy. 

Her  father  did  not  answer,  but  only  laughed 
the  more. 

"Father,"  repeated  Lucy,  earnestly,  "what 
are  you  laughing  at  ?  I  am  sure  I  don't  think  we 
ought  to  laugh  at  that  man  for  telling  us  about 
our  way." 

"  No,"  replied  her  father ;  "  I  was  not  laughing 
at  the  man,  but  only  at  the  queer  mistake  he 
made." 


FORDING.  21 

"  What  mistake  ?  "  said  Lucy. 

"  Why,  he  thought  I  was  afraid  that  the 
General  would  charge  too  much  for  entertaining 
us ;  whereas  all  that  I  was  afraid  of  was,  that  he 
would  not  charge  any  thing  at  all." 

"  What  do  you  mean  by  charge,  father  ?  "  said 
Lucy. 

"  Making  us  pay,"  replied  her  father. 

"  Well,  what  do  you  want  him  to  make  us  pay 
for  ?  "  asked  Lucy. 

"  O,  we  shall  all  feel  a  great  deal  more  at 
home  at  his  house,  if  he  is  going  to  receive  pay 
for  entertaining  us.  I  shouldn't  like  to  go  into  a 
farmer's  house,  and  have  him  get  us  some  supper, 
and  give  us  beds  to  sleep  in,  and  then  get  us 
some  breakfast  in  the  morning,  and  then  not  pay 
him  any  thing  for  all  that  trouble.  But  the  man 
thought  that  I  was  afraid  we  should  have  to  pay 
him  too  much." 

Lucy  did  not  understand  exactly  what  her  fa- 
ther meant  by  speaking  of  a  farmer's  house ;  for 
the  house  where  they  were  going  was  a  general's 
house,  she  thought,  and  not  a  fanner's.  However, 
she  said  no  more  about  it.  Her  father  said  that 
he  had  forgotten  to  ask  what  the  General's  name 
was,  and  her  mother  said  that  she  thought  the 
General's  house  must  be  the  one  they   saw  up 


22      LUCY  AMONG  THE  MOUNTAINS. 

among  the  hills,  when  they  were  corning  across 
the  stream. 

"  Very  likely,"  said  her  father,  in  reply ;  and 
there  the  conversation  ceased.  They  were  all 
tired,  and  so  they  rode  on  for  nearly  half  an  hour 
in  silence. 

The  road  was  generally  up  hill,  though  it  was 
level  sometimes  for  a  short  distance ;  and  some- 
times it  even  went  down  a  little  way,  and  then 
up  again.  It  curved  about  also,  winding  along 
around  rocks  and  precipices,  and  sometimes  up 
narrow  ravines.  At  one  place  there  was  a  great 
tree  growing  out  from  the  brink  of  a  precipice  by 
the  side  of  the  road,  far  above  them  ;  and  the 
tree  hung  over  so  far,  that  Lucy  was  afraid  that 
it  would  fall  down  upon  their  heads.  But  her 
father  said  that  he  thought  there  was  no  danger. 
They  could  hear  the  river  roaring  through  the 
valley  far  below  them  on  one  side  of  the  road, 
and  now  and  then  they  got  a  glimpse  of  the  wa- 
ter, which  was  bright  by  the  reflection  of  the  sky. 

At  length  they  came  to  ground  which  seemed 
to  be  more  smooth.  There  began  to  be  a  fence 
of  rails  on  one  side  of  the  road.  Presently  the 
fence  stopped,  and  a  wall  began.  The  wall  was 
made  of  rough  stones  piled  up  in  a  row.  Pretty 
soon  there  was  a  wall  on  the  other  side  of  the  road 


FORDING.  23 

too ;  and  beyond  the  wall  on  one  side  was  an 
orchard,  the  trees  growing  among  large  rocks, 
which  were  scattered  about  the  ground.  On  the 
other  side  were  broad,  level  fields,  which  looked 
pretty  smooth,  though  Lucy  could  not  see  them 
very  well.  Her  father  said  that  he  thought  that 
must  be  the  General's  mowing. 

As  they  drove  along,  they  could  see  that  they 
were  passing  different  fields,  having  corn  and 
grain  growing  in  them.  These  fields  appeared  to 
be  quite  large,  and  the  walls  seemed  to  grow  bet- 
ter and  more  substantial  the  farther  they  ad- 
vanced. Lucy's  father  said  he  had  no  idea  that 
there  could  have  been  such  a  place  for  a  farm 
among  those  mountains.  Lucy,  however,  said 
that  she  did  not  see  any  farm,  nothing  but  some 
fields. 

They  soon  began  to  draw  near  the  house. 
They  did  not  see  the  buildings  until  they  came 
very  near  them ;  for  there  were  forests  and  lofty 
mountains  behind  them,  which  looked  dark,  and  so 
the  barns,  and  sheds,  and  granaries  were  concealed. 
The  house,  too,  did  not  show  itself  until  they 
got  almost  to  it.  Lucy  saw  it  first  by  means  of  a 
light  from  one  of  the  windows.  She  did  not  see 
the  light  very  plainly  at  first,  because  it  shone 
through  some  trees  which  were  in  the  way ;  but 


24      LUCY  AMONG  THE  MOUNTAINS. 

presently,  when  they  came  into  full  view  of  it, 
they  saw  that  it  was  a  very  bright  light. 

"  They've  got  a  good  fire,"  said  Lucy's  moth- 
er, "  and  I'm  glad  of  it,  for  I  feel  cold." 

"  So  do  I,"  said  Lucy.     "  I'm  glad  they've  got 
a  good  fire." 

Just  at  this  time,  her  father  turned  his  horse  up 
into  a  large  yard,  which  extended  along  by  the 
side  of  the  house.  There  were  various  out-Luild 
ings  all  around  the  yard,  and  the  great  elm-tree 
hung  over  it  like  a  canopy.  The  elm-tree  was 
very  large,  and  it  stood  pretty  near  the  house,  so 
that  one  half  of  the  branches  overhung  the  house, 
and  the  other  half  the  yard.  Lucy's  father  drove 
up  pretty  near  to  the  door. 


25 


CHAPTER    II. 

THE   GENERAL'S. 

Just  as  the  chaise  stopped  in  the  yard,  Lucy 
saw  a  boy  coming  in  from  the  barn  towards  the 
house,  with  a  basket  in  his  hand.  He  ran  along 
towards  the  chaise,  and  Lucy's  father  asked  him 
if  the  General  was  at  home. 

"  Yes,  sir,"  said  the  boy  ;  "  won't  you  walk  in  ? 
I'll  hold  the  horse  while  you  get  out." 

"  No,"  said  Lucy's  father  ;  "  we  won't  get  out 
fet.  But  will  you  be  good  enough  to  ask  him 
if  he  will  come  to  the  door  a  moment." 

The  boy  said  he  would,  and  he  went  into  the 
house.  Lucy  expected  to  see  a  man  dressed  in 
uniform,  with  a  gun  in  his  hand,  or  at  least  a 
sword ;  and  also  with  a  feather  in  his  cap,  and 
an  epaulet  on  each  shoulder.  Instead  of  this, 
however,  much  to  her  surprise,  the  boy  came 
out  a  moment  after  he  had  gone  in,  conducting 
a  plain-looking  man,  who  appeared  just  like  a 
farmer. 

3 


26      LUCY  AMONG  THE  MOUNTAINS. 

"  Is  that  the  General  ?  "  said  Lucy,  whispering 
to  her  mother. 

"  Hush  !  "  said  her  mother. 

The  General  had  a  plain,  farmer-like  look ;  his 
countenance,  however,  was  intelligent  and  ex- 
pressive. He  seemed  very  glad  to  see  the  trav- 
ellers. He  invited  them  to  come  in  immediately, 
—  even  before  he  heard  their  story,  —  and  when 
Lucy's  father  had  told  him  what  their  circum- 
stances were,  he  said,  — 

"Yes,  yes,  —  I  can  accommodate  you  just  as 
well  as  not.     I  am  very  glad  to  see  you." 

Then  he  told  the  boy  to  hold  the  horse's  head, 
while  he  took  Lucy  out,  and  put  her  down  upon 
a  great  flat  stone  before  the  door.  Then  her 
father  and  mother  got  out,  and  the  General  took 
ofFthe  trunk,  which  was  strapped  on  behind,  and 
set  it  down  also  upon  the  stone.  He  also  took 
out  the  other  baggage,  and  then  told  the  boy  to 
lead  the  horse  off  to  the  barn,  and  said  that  he 
would  send  out  Joseph  to  help  him  take  care  of 
him.     Then  they  all  went  into  the  house. 

Just  as  they  were  going  in  at  the  door,  Lucy 
said,  in  a  very  low  voice,  to  her  mother,  who  was 
leading  her  by  the  hand,  — 

"  Mother,  I  thought  that  a  general  was  a  kind 
of  a  soldier  " 


the  general's.  27 

"  Hush  !  hush  !  Lucy,"  said  her  mother. 

Lucy,  therefore,  said  no  more,  but  went  in. 
She  found  herself  in  a  Jarge  room,  with  a  very 
large  fireplace  in  one  side  of  it.  There  were 
a  great  many  strange  things,  —  that  is,  things 
strange  to  Lucy,  —  all  about  the  room.  There 
was  a  long  wooden  seat,  with  a  very  high  back 
to  it,  by  the  wall,  upon  one  side  of  the  fire. 
There  was  a  round-faced,  happy-looking  girl, 
sitting  on  this  seat,  about  as  big  as  Joanna.  She 
was  knitting.  There  was,  also,  a  young  man  sit- 
ting by  a  window ;  this  was  Joseph  ;  and  he  got 
up  and  went  out  when  the  party  came  in,  in 
order  to  go  to  the  barn,  and  help  take  care  of 
the  horse.  ,  The  General  and  his  wife  put  some 
chairs  before  the  fire,  for  Lucy  and  her  father 
and  mother  to  sit  down  and  warm  themselves. 
Lucy  sat  down  with  the  rest,  but  she  was  so 
much  amazed  at  the  strange  things  before  her,  — 
the  great  hearth,  made  of  monstrous  flat  stones, 
the  black  iron  andirons,  with  the  tops  turning  over 
in  a  curl,  and  the  bright,  blazing  fire,  —  that  she 
did  not  think  much  about  warming  herself. 

Then  Lucy  began  to  look  about  the  room. 
The  light  shone  brightly  upon  the  floor,  and  un- 
der the  tables.  Under  one  table  there  was  a 
large  black  dog  stretched  out  straight,  with  his 


28      LUCY  AMONG  THE  MOUNTAINS. 

chin  upon  his  fore  paws,  and  watching  Lucy 
with  the  eye  that  was  turned  towards  her.  And 
every  time  he  heard  a  noise,  he  would  raise  his 
head,  and  prick  up  his  ears,  and,  after  listening  a 
minute,  lay  it  down  again.  In  a  minute  or  two, 
Lucy  saw  him  lift  up  his  head  very  suddenly, 
and  look  quite  wild.  Lucy  heard,  herself,  at  the 
same  moment,  a  low  and  distant  sound  of  whis- 
tling, which  seemed  to  be  out  in  the  yard.  The 
dog  started  up,  and  ran  towards  the  door,  and 
stood  there  a  moment,  whining  for  somebody  to 
open  it.  An  instant  afterwards,  a  little  girl,  whom 
Lucy  had  not  seen  before,  came  quick,  and  opened 
the  door,  and  let  him  out.  Then  she  went  back, 
and  took  her  seat  again  upon  a  cricket  in  the 
corner.  She  seemed  to  be  about  as  old  as  Lucy; 
and  Lucy  thought. to  herself,  that  she  wished  she 
was  acquainted  with  her,  and  then  she  would  go 
and  play  with  her.  "And  at  any  rate,"  said 
she  to  herself,  "  I  wish  I  knew  what  her  name 
was." 

Her  name,  in  fact,  was  Ellen.  Lucy  learned 
her  name  pretty  soon ;  for  the  General's  wife, 
who  was  Ellen's  mother,  called  her,  in  a  few 
minutes,  to  go  and  show  Lucy  and  her  mother 
the  way  to  the  bedroom. 

"  Shall  I  light  a  candle,  mother  ?  "  said  Ellen. 


29 


"  Yes,"  said  her  mother. 

Lucy  then  observed  that  Ellen  went  to  a  sort 
of  open  cupboard,  by  the  side  of  the  room,  where 
there  were  a  great  many  dishes  and  tins  in  rows, 
all  nice  and  bright ;  and  she  took  down  an  iron 
candlestick,  with  a  short  candle  in  it,  and  came 
and  lighted  it  by  the  fire.  Then  she  conducted 
Lucy's  mother,  and  Lucy  herself,  out  through  a 
door  in  the  back  side  of  the  room.  The  door 
led  into  a  small  passage-way ;  and,  from  this 
passage-way,  Ellen  opened  a  door  which  led  into 
a  very  pleasant  little  bedroom.  There  was  a 
bed  in  the  back  side  of  the  room,  and  a  little 
trundle-bed  under  it,  which  Lucy  supposed  was 
for  her.  The  middle  of  the  floor  was  covered 
with  a  small  carpet.  The  rest  of  the  floor  was 
painted.  There  were  two  windows,  with  white 
curtains  hanging  before  them,  and  between  the 
windows  a  table,  covered  with  a  white  cloth. 
Over  the  table  was  a  looking-glass ;  and  there 
was  a  large  pincushion  hanging  under  the  glass 
There  was  also  a  lightstand  in  a  corner  of  the 
room,  with  a  Bible  upon  it. 

Lucy's  father  came  in  immediately  afterwards, 
bringing  in  some  of  the  baggage ;  and,  while  he 
was  putting  it  down,  Lucy  went  and  lifted  up 
the  curtain  of  the  window  to  look  out. 
3* 


30      LUCY  AMONG  THE  MOUNTAINS. 

"  O,  what  a  strange-looking  place !  "  said  Lucy 
"  I  never  saw  such  a  strange-looking  place.  Come 
and  see,  mother." 

Her  mother  went  to  the  window  to  see.  Di- 
rectly before  them,  under  the  window,  there  was 
a  little  green  yard,  with  a  stone  wall  running 
along  the  back  side  of  it.  Beyond  the  wall, 
there  were  trees  and  bushes ;  and  the  land 
seemed  to  descend  into  a  little  valley,  where 
Lucy  thought  she  could  hear  a  brook  tumbling 
over  stones.  Beyond  the  brook  there  was  a  vast 
forest,  rising  higher  and  higher  up  the  declivities 
of  the  mountains.  The  mountains  were  so  high, 
that  Lucy  had  to  move  away  more  of  the  curtain 
before  she  could  see  the  summits.  They  were 
steep  and  gray.  Lucy  could  see  them  very 
distinctly ;  for  the  moon  had  come  up,  and  was 
shining  upon  them.  In  a  place  lower  down, 
there  was  a  great,  rocky  precipice,  which  pro- 
jected cut  from  among  the  trees.  Lucy  said  to 
herself,  that  she  was  glad  Royal  did  not  see  it ; 
for,  if  he  did,  she  knew  that  he  would  want  to 
be  climbing  up  to  the  top  of  it,  and  she  should 
be  afraid  that  he  would  fall. 

When  Lucy  went  back  into  the  great  room 
again  with  her  mother,  she  found  that  there  was 
a  round  table  set  out  in  the  middle  of  the  floor, 


THE    GENERAL  S.  31 

and  spread  for  supper.  The  girl,  who  was  sitting 
upon  the  great  seat,  beckoned  to  Lucy  to  come 
and  sit  with  her;  and  Lucy  went.  She  put 
down  her  knitting,  and  took  Lucy  up  in  her  lap. 
At  first,  Lucy  was  a  little  afraid ;  but  the  girl 
looked  so  good-humoredly  and  pleasantly  upon' 
her,  that  she  soon  began  to  feel  at  her  ease. 

"  What  is  your  name  ? "  said  Lucy,  looking 
up  into  her  face. 

"  Comfort,"  said  the  girl. 

"  Comfort  ?  "  repeated  Lucy. 

"  Yes,"  replied  the  girl. 

"  I  never  heard  of  such  a  name  as  Comfort," 
said  Lucy. 

"  What  is  your  name  ?  "  said  Comfort. 

Lucy  told  her  what  her  name  was,  and  then 
Comfort  asked  her  various  other  questions  about 
their  journey ;  and,  at  last,  Lucy  and  Comfort 
became  quite  well  acquainted.  In  the  mean 
time,  Ellen  was  very  busy  helping  her  mother 
get  the  supper.  There  was  a  round,  flat  cake 
set  up  before  the  fire,  in  an  iron  thing  called  a 
spider,  to  bake,  and  a  pie  put  down  in  a  corner 
to  warm.  At  length,  Lucy  looked  up  to  Com- 
fort again,  and  said, — 

"Why  don't  you  help  them  get  supper?" 


32      LUCY  AMONG  THE  MOUNTAINS. 

"O,  I  don't  do  the  housework,"  said  Com 
fort ;  «  I  spin." 

"  Spin  ? "  repeated  Lucy ;  "  how  do  you  spin  ? " 

"With  my  spinning-wheel,"  said  Comfort. 
"  There  it  stands,  in  the  corner." 

Lucy  looked  in  the  direction  where  Comfort 
pointed,  and  she  saw  a  very  curious-looking  ma- 
chine, with  one  great  wheel,  something  like  one 
of  the  wheels  of  her  father's  chaise,  only  it  was 
up  in  the  air,  on  the  top  of  the  machine.  The 
machine  had  three  legs,  too,  to  stand  upon. 

Lucy  looked  at  it,  wondering,  when  Comfort 
asked  her  if  she  had  never  seen  a  spinning-wheel. 

"  No,"  said  Lucy. 

"  And  then  you  never  saw  any  body  spin  ? " 

"  No,"  said  Lucy. 

"  You  shall  see  me,  then,  to-morrow.  I  shall 
spin  all  day  to-morrow. " 

"  I  wish  you  would  show  me  a  little  to-night," 
said  Lucy. 

"Well,"  said  Comfort,  "I  will." 

So  Comfort  put  Lucy  down,  and  led  her  to 
the  wheel ;  and  then  she  took  up  a  long,  slender 
roll  of  wool,  from  a  pile  of  such  rolls,  which  was 
lying  across  the  forward  part  of  the  wheel,  and 
began  to  spin.  The  wheel  made  a  loud,  buzzing 
noise,  which  seemed  to  Lucy  to  be  very  extra- 


33 


ordinary  indeed.  Lucy  stood  before  the  wheel, 
with  her  hands  behind  her,  looking  on,  with  great 
interest,  at  the  spinning,  and  wondering  what 
made  it  buzz. 

Presently,  Comfort  stopped,  and  led  Lucy  back 
to  her  seat,  saying,  "To-morrow  you  shall  see 
me  spin  more." 

"  But  I  am  going  away  to-morrow,"  said  Lu- 
cy, "  with  my  father  and  mother." 

Just  then,  Lucy  saw  that  the  supper  was  ready, 
and  they  were  putting  the  chairs  around  the  table. 
Not  long  after  supper,  Lucy's  mother  took  her 
into  the  bedroom,  to  put  her  to  bed.  While  they 
were  in  the  bedroom  together,  Lucy  said  that  she 
wished  her  mother  would  stay  there  several  days. 

"  No,"  said  her  mother ;  "  we  must  go  on  to- 
morrow. But  perhaps  we  shall  stop  again  when 
we  come  back." 

"When  are  we  corning  back?  "  said  Lucy. 

"  In  about  a  week,"  replied  her  mother. 

"Well,  mother,"  said  Lucy,  "why  can't  you 
and  I  stay  here,  and  let  father  go  on  alone,  and 
call  for  us  when  he  comes  back  ?  " 

"  I  should  like  that,"  said  her  mother.  "  I  will 
ask  him." 

"Well,"  said  Lucy,  with  an  expression  of  great 
satisfaction.     "  Then  I  can  see  Comfort  spin." 


34      LUCY  AMONG  THE  MOUNTAINS.. 

So,  after  Lucy's  mother  had  put  her  to  bed, 
and  was  going  out  of  the  room,  Lucy  called  out 
to  her,  just  as  she  was  shutting  the  door,  — 

"  You'll  be  sure  and  ask  father." 

"  Yes,"  said  her  mother. 

"  And  come  back  and  tell  me  what  he  says." 

"  Perhaps  so,"  said  her  mother.    "  Good  night." 

After  her  mother  had  gone,  Lucy  began  talk- 
ing to  herself,  as  follows :  — 

"  I  hope  we  shall  stay  here ;  then  I  can  see 
Comfort's  lamb.  Comfort  says  she's  got  a  lamb. 
I  wish  I  had  a  lamb,  —  or  a  little  spinning-wheel 
—  if  a  little  one  would  only  buzz.  This  is  the 
way  it  went :  Buzz  —  buzz  —  uz  —  z-z  — ." 

And  in  a  few  minutes,  Lucy  buzzed  herself  to 
sleep. 


35 


CHAPTER  III. 
THE  INSPECTION. 

Lucy's  plan,  of  having  her  mother  and  herself 
remain  at  the  General's  while  her  father  went  on 
to  finish  his  journey  by  himself,  was  adopted,  to 
her  great  joy. 

Lucy  stood  under  the  elm-tree,  and  saw  him 
drive  away,  with  great  satisfaction,  the  next  morn- 
ing, soon  after  breakfast. 

As  soon  as  her  father's  chaise  was  out  of  sight, 
at  a  curve  in  the  road,  where  some  large  trees 
intercepted  the  view,  Lucy  turned  round  to  go 
into  the  house.  Ellen  was  standing  in  the  door. 
Her  brother,  the  boy  who  had  held  the  horse  the 
evening  before,  was  standing  pretty  near,  and,  as 
he  turned  to  go  on  towards  the  barn,  he  said  to 
Ellen,— 

'•'  Ellen,  is  not  this  inspection  day  ? " 

"  Yes,"  said  Ellen,  after  hesitating  a  moment, 
"  I  believe  it  is." 

"  Excellent ! "  said  the  boy.     "  We  shall  haFe 


3b      LUCY  AMONG  THE  MOUNTAINS. 

some  cakes.  I  am  going  to  eat  mine  on  my 
clearing." 

"  Inspection  ?  "  said  Lucy  to  herself;  "  I  won- 
der what  they  mean  by  inspection." 

But  Lucy  did  not  like  to  ask,  though  she 
wanted  to  know  very  much.  She  did  not  feel 
enough  acquainted  even  with  Ellen,  to  ask.  She 
thought  she  would  go  in  and  ask  her  mother. 

She  found  her  mother  in  the  little  bedroom, 
arranging  it.  She  had  put  a  table  before  the 
window,  in  a  place  where  it  would  be  pleasant 
to  sit.  She  had  opened  her  trunk,  and  had  ta- 
ken out  some  paper  and  writing  materials,  so  as 
to  be  ready  to  write  a  letter.  When  Lucy  came 
in,  she  said,  — 

"  Mother,  there  is  going  to  be  an  inspection." 

"  Is  there  ?  "  said  her  mother. 

Lucy  waited  a  moment;  but  her  mother  did 
not  seem  to  be  particularly  interested  in  what  she 
had  said,  and  asked  her  no  questions  about  it,  but 
went  on  arranging  some  books  upon  the  table, 
just  as  if  there  was  not  going  to  be  any  inspec- 
tion at  all.     At  length,  Lucy  said, — 

"What  is  an  inspection,  mother?" 

"  An  inspection  ?  "  said  her  mother,  looking  up, 
"  why,  it  is  a  kind  of  a  review." 


THE    INSPECTION.  37 

"A  review,  mother?  I  don't  know  what  a 
review  is,  any  better  than  an  inspection." 

"  Why,  it  is  —  a 1  don't  know  how  to 

explain  it  to  you;  —  it  is  a  sort  of  a  training, 
where  several  companies  of  soldiers  come  togeth- 
er, and  the  general  looks  at  them,  and  examines 
their  guns,  and  sees  them  exercise." 

"  What  is  it  for,  mother  ? "  said  Lucy. 

"  Why,  to  see  if  every  thing  is  in  good  order. 
But  is  there  really  going  to  be  an  inspection 
about  here,  Lucy?" 

"Yes,  mother,  I  am  sure  there  is,"  replied 
Lucy,  speaking  very  emphatically,  and  looking 
very  positive,  —  "  I  am  sure  there  is,  for  Robert 
said  there  was." 

"Is  that  boy's  name  Robert?"  asked  her 
mother. 

"Yes,"  said  Lucy;  "and  he  said  there  was 
going  to  be  an  inspection.  Do  you  think  you 
shall  let  me  go  and  see  it,  mother  ?  " 

"  Why,  that  depends,"  said  her  mother,  "  upon 
when  and  where  it  is  to  be.  I  can't  tell  you  till 
you  find  out  something  more  about  it." 

"Well,"  said  Lucy,  "I'll  go  and  ask  Comfort: 
[  am  not  afraid  to  ask  Comfort." 

So  Lucy  went  out  in  pursuit  of  Comfort. 

Lucy  found  Comfort  at  her  spinning-wheel. 
4 


38      LUCY  AMONG  THE  MOUNTAINS. 

The  wheel  was  in  one  corner  of  the  kitchen,  by 
a  window.  It  was  a  great  way  from  the  fire,  for 
the  room  was  very  large.  Lucy  was  so  much 
interested,  for  a  time,  in  seeing  Comfort  spin, 
that  she  forgot  about  the  inspection.  Comfort 
talked  with  her,  and  explained  something  about 
the  spinning-wheel,  but  did  not  stop  her  work 
First  she  would  whirl  the  wheel  around  one  way 
very  fast  for  a  few  minutes,  and  then  she  would 
stop,  and  then  begin  to  whirl  it  the  other  way. 
Sometimes  she  would  draw  out  a  long  thread  of 
the  yarn,  and  then  the  yarn  would  all  run  up  on 
the  spindle. 

"  Why  don't  you  turn  your  wheel  always  the 
same  way  ?  "  asked  Lucy. 

"  Because,"  said  Comfort,  "  I  have  to  turn  it 
one  way  to  twist  the  thread,  and  then  the  other 
to  run  it  on  the  spindle." 

Lucy  did  not  understand  the  explanation  very 
well,  and  so  she  thought  she  would  look  on  and 
see  how  Comfort  did  it.  But  she  did  it  so 
fast  that  Lucy  could  not  see.  So,  after  she  had 
stood  silently  for  some  time,  hearing  the  wheel 
buzz,  she  asked  Comfort  if  there  was  going  to  be 
an  inspection  that  day. 

"  Yes,"  said  Comfort. 

"  When  is  it  going  to  be  ?  "  asked  Lucy. 


THE    INSPECTION.  39 

"  Right  after  dinner,"  said  Comfort. 

•"  How  far  is  it,"  said  Lucy,  "  from  here  ?  " 

"O,  not  far,"  said  Comfort;  "you  shall  e;o ; 
I'll  show  you." 

So  Lucy  ran  back  to  her  mother,  and  told  her 
that  the  inspection  was  going  to  be  right  after  din- 
ner, and  that  it  was  not  far,  and  that  Comfort 
would  go  and  show  it  to  her. 

"  Well,"  said  her  mother,  "  you  may  go  when- 
ever Comfort  goes ;  but  it  is  very  strange  that 
they  are  going  to  have  an  inspection  up  here.  I 
am  sure  I  don't  see  where  the  troops  are  to  come 
from." 

"  Well,"  said  Lucy,  "  I  know  there  is  going  to 
be  one,  because  Comfort  said  so." 

Lucy  was  right.  There  was  going  to  be  an 
inspection,  but  it  was  very  different  from  the  kind 
that  she  had  imagined.  For  that  day,  at  dinner, 
Lucy's  mother  asked  the  farmer  about  the  inspec- 
tion, and  where  it  was  to  be,  and  he  said,  "  O,  we 
generally  begin  at  the  barn,  and  so  go  all  around." 

"  Why,  what  kind  of  an  inspection  is  it  ? "  said 
Lucy's  mother. 

"  Why,  it  is  not  a  military  inspection,"  said  the 
farmer,  laughing.  "  Did  you  think  it  was  a  mili- 
tary inspection,  Lucy  ?  "  he  added,  turning  to 
Lucy. 


40      LUCY  AMONG  THE  MOUNTAINS. 

"  Sir  ?  "  said  Lucy. 

"  It  is  not  a  military  inspection ;  it  is  only  an 
inspection  of  my  farm." 

"  An't  there  any  soldiers  ?  "  said  Lucy. 

"  J\o,"  said  the  farmer,  "  no  soldiers.  We  in- 
spect the  bam,  and  the  sheds,  and  shop,  and  then 
we  come  into  the  house  and  inspect  the  rooms, 
and  closets,  and  the  cellar,  to  see  if  every  thing  is 
in  order.     We  cannot  show  you  any  soldiers." 

"  My  mother  said  there  were  going  to  be  some 
soldiers,"  said  Lucy. 

"  No,"  said  Lucy's  mother.  "  I  said  that  I 
supposed  they  meant  an  inspection  of  soldiers. 
There  may  be  an  inspection  of  any  thing." 

Lucy  was  quite  disappointed,  when  she  found 
that  it  was  not  to  be  an  inspection  of  soldiers. 

However,  she  concluded  to  go  and  see  it,  what- 
ever it  was ;  and  accordingly,  after  dinner,  she  put 
on  her  bonnet,  and  went  out  to  the  door  with  El- 
len, and  waited  there  for  the  rest  to  come. 

In  a  few  minutes,  she  saw  Robert  coming  from 
a  building  between  one  of  the  barns  and  the  shed, 
with  a  sort  of  a  box  in  his  hand.  The  box  was 
somewhat  similar  to  a  knife-box  m  form  ;  and,  as 
in  a  knife-box,  there  was  a  handle  in  the  middle, 
coming  up  from  the  bottom  of  the  box,  which 
Robert  took  hold  of,  and  brought  it  by. 


THE    INSPECTION.  41 

"  What  is  that,  Robert  ?  "  said  Lucy. 

"  This  is  the  tool-box,"  said  Robert. 

"What  is  it  for  ?  "  asked  Lucy. 

"  Why,  I  always  carry  about  a  tool-box  at  the 
inspection,"  said  Robert.  "  Because,  sometimes 
father  finds  something  broken,  that  he  can  mend 
at  once  upon  the  spot." 

By  this  time  he  came  up  to  where  Lucy  was 
standing,  and  he  put  down  the  box  upon  the  great 
stone  step,  so  that  she  could  look  into  it.  The 
box  was  not  very  deep,  and  it  was  divided  off, 
inside,  into  several  compartments.  There  was 
one  long  compartment  upon  one  side,  which  ex- 
tended from  one  end  of  the  box  to  the  other.  In 
this  were  several  tools.  '  There  were  a  hammer 
and  a  gimlet ;  and,  besides,  there '  were  several 
other  tools,  which  Lucy  did  not  know  the 
names   of. 

Besides  this  long  compartment,  there  were 
several  small,  square  divisions,  which  had  nails 
and  screws  in  them,  of  different  sizes.  Lucy  said 
she  never  saw  so  many  different  kinds  of  nails. 
While  she  was  looking  at  them,  Robert  began  to 
hear  the  rattling  of  wheels  in  the  road,  and  he 
exclaimed  aloud, — 

"  O,  here  comes  Eben." 

Lucy  looked  to  see.  A  wagon,  with  a  man 
4# 


42      LUCY  AMONG  THE  MOUNTAINS. 

and  a  small  boy  in  it,  stopped  opposite  to  the 
house.  The  boy  appeared  to  be  very  young  — 
younger  than  Lucy.  His  face  was  round,  and 
his  cheeks  were  red  and  full.  He  looked  very 
sober  ami  anxious,  for  he  was  afraid  that  he  could 
not  get  out  of  the  wagon,  very  well.  The  man 
took  hold  of  his  arm,  and  helped  him  climb  down, 
Eben  looked  towards  the  ground  with  an  anxious 
expression  of  countenance,  as  if  he  thought  it 
was  a  great  way  down. 

As  soon,  however,  as  his  little  feet  touched  the 
road,  his  countenance  changed  very  suddenly, 
and  he  began  to  leap  and  scamper  off  towards 
the  house,  with  great  glee. 

"  Well,  Eben,"  said^llen,  "  and  how  do  they 
do  at  uncle's  ?  " 

"Pretty  well,"  said  Eben.  "I'm  going  there 
again  some  day,  and  am  going  to  stay  there  a 
whole  while." 

Lucy  smiled,  and   Robert   laughed   aloud,  at 
such    an  unauthorized  combination  of  terms   as 
Eben's  whole  while.     Eben,  however,  after  look 
ing  at  them  in  wonder  a  moment,  said,  — 

"  You  needn't  laugh  ;  I  certainly  am." 

Just  then  the  General  came  out,  and  the  whole 
party  proceeded  to  the  barn.  The  General 
looked  carefully  all  around,  to  see  if  every  thing 


THE    INSPECTION.  43 

was  in  its  place,  and  in  order.  From  the  barn 
they  went  into  a  sort  of  room  in  a  shed  adjoining 
it,  where  there  were  harnesses  and  chains,  and  a 
number  of  tools  of  various  kinds.  The  General 
looked  about,  and  examined  them  all.  There 
were  a  parcel  of  ropes  lying  in  a  corner,  and  the 
General  asked  where  they  came  from.  Robert 
said  that  he  found  them  up  in  the  garret,  and  had 
untied  all  the  knots  ;  he  was  going  to  have  them 
for  his  sleds  the  next  winter. 

The  General  said  that  they  ought  to  be  hung 
up ;  and  he  took  the  hammer  and  some  nails  out 
of  Robert's  tool-box,  and  drove  up  a  row  of  nails, 
just  under  a  beam  about  as  high  as  Robert's  head. 
Then  all  the  children  took  up  the  pieces  of  ropes, 
and  hung  them  up,  one  piece  on  each  nail. 

"  There,"  said  the  General,  "  now  you  can  see 
what  you've  got.  They  are  out  of  the  way  there, 
and  when  you  want  one,  you  can  come  and  get 
any  length  you  like." 

Every  thing  else  in  the  harness  room  was 
found  in  good  order,  and  so  they  went  into  the 
shed.  There  was  a  wood-pile  there,  and  some 
of  the  wood  lay  near  the  foot  of  the  pile  upon 
the  ground  ;  for  this  shed  had  no  floor.  One  of 
the  logs  had  a  wedge  sticking  into  it.     The  log 


44  LITCY    AMONG    THE    MOUNTAINS. 

was  cracked  open  a  little,  but  not  very  far,  and 
the  wedge  was  driven  fast  into  it. 

"  How  came  this  left  so  ? "  said  the  Genera!. 

"  Why,  father,"  said  Robert,  "  I  began  to  split 
this  log,  but  I  couldn't." 

While  he  was  saying  this,  the  General  rolled 
the  log  over;  and  he  found  two  other  wedges, 
lying  on  the  ground,  under  it,  halC  covered  in  the 
chips. 

"  One  wedge  in  the  log,  and  two  in  the  chips, 
make  three  signs  of  a  bad  woodman,"  said  the 
General. 

"  Why,  you  see,  father,"  said  Robert,  "  that 
the  ring  of  the  beetle  kept  coming  off,  and  so 
I  couldn't  split  it." 

The  General  then  took  an  axe,  which  was 
standing  in  its  place  pretty  near  where  they  were, 
and  with  a  few  heavy  blows  he  split  the  log,  and 
liberated  the  wedge  which  had  been  held  in  the 
cleft.  Then  he  told  Robert  to  put  the  three 
wedges  upon  their  shelf,  and  to  carry  the  beetle, 
with  the  loose  ring,  into  the  shop,  and  to  put  it 
with  the  tools  that  were  to  be  mended. 

"  When  is  he  going  to  mend  it  ?  "  said  Lucy. 

"  The  first  rainy  day,"  said  Ellen  ;  "  he  always 
sends  off  all  the  broken  things  to  the  shop,  and 
then  he  mends  them  some  rainy  day." 


THE    INSPECTION.  45 

Before  Robert  got  back  from  the  shop,  the  in- 
spection party  had  gone  up  a  back  stairway 
which  led  into  a  kind  of  garret,  over  the  kitchen 
part. of  the  house.  Here  there  were  a  great  many 
boxes  and  trunks,  all,  however,  in  good  order, 
There  was  a  large  shelf  at  one  end,  with  a  great 
many  herbs  in  bundles.  Then  they  all  went 
through  a  narrow  door  into  another  garret  over  the 
main  body  of  the  house ;  and  thence  they  came 
down  the  front  stairs.  They  found  that  the  door  at 
the  foot  of  the  stairs  would  not  shut  very  well ; 
and  the  General,  after  looking  at  it  a  moment,  said 
that  the  latch  was  out  of  order. 

"  Yes,  sir,"  said  Ellen,  "  and  I  wish  you  would 
mend  it,  for  it  troubles  me  every  time  I  want  to 
come  up  stairs." 

"  Have  you  got  a  file  among  your  tools, 
Robert  ?  "  said  the  General. 

"  Yes,  sir,"  said  Robert ;  for  Robert  had  come 
back,  before  this  time,  from  the  shop,  and  was  fol- 
lowing them  with  his  box  of  tools. 

The  General  took  out  the  file,  and  also  the 
hammer.  First  he  filed  the  iron  of  the  latch  a 
little ;  then  he  hammered  it  a  little,  and  thus  very 
soon  put  it  in  good  order. 

Ellen  said  that  she  was  very  glad. 


46      LUCT  AMONG  THE  MOUNTAINS. 

They  then  went  into  all  the  rooms  of  the  house, 
except  the  little  bedroom  where  Lucy's  mother 
was.  They  opened  all  the  closet  doors  too,  and 
looked  into  them,  to  see  if  every  thing  was  in 
order.  When  they  came  into  the  little  room 
where  Ellen  slept,  there  was  a  little  chest  in  it, 
where  she  kept  her  clothes ;  and  she  opened  the 
lid,  and  asked  them  all  to  look  in  and  see  if  her 
things  were  not  in  order. 

After  they  had  thus  examined  the  whole  house, 
they  went  out  at  the  front  door,  and  thence  across 
the  yard  into  the  garden.  They  walked  up  and 
down  all  the  alleys,  looking  at  the  beds  and 
borders,  to  see  if  all  was  in  proper  condition. 

It  was  pretty  late  in  the  season,  and  there 
were  not  many  weeds  growing.  Ellen  and 
Robert  both  had  some  beds  in  one  corner,  where 
they  raised  corn,  and  peas,  and  beans,  for  seed. 

The  General  told  them  it  was  nearly  time  for 
them  to  gather  their  beans. 

When  they  came  out  of  the  garden,  Robert 
asked  his  father  to  look  at  the  hinge  of  the  gate, 
which,  he  said,  was  coming  off. 

There  was  a  narrow  piece  of  board  nailed  upon 
the  post,  and  the  hinges  of  the  gate  were  nailed 
to  that.     By  some  means  or  other,  however,  this 


THE    INSPECTION.  47 

board  had  got  split  where  the  upper  binge 
was  fastened  to  it,  and  so  the  hinge  was  loose. 
Robert  pointed  it  out  to  his  father. 

"  Ah,  yes,"  said  he  ;  "  I  am  glad  you  showed 
me  this  ;  very  soon  the  hinge  would  have  come  off, 
and  then  the  lower  hin^e  would  have  sjot  broken. 
Now  we  shall  save  them." 

The  General  then  looked  at  the  board,  and 
said  it  was  split,  and  there  must  be  a  new  one 
made.  So  he  took  out  some  tools  from  Robert's 
box,  and  took  off  the  hinges  very  carefully.  Then 
he  set  the  gate  up  by  the  fence  on  one  side.  Then 
he  took  off  the  split  board,  and  gave  it  to  Eben. 

"  Can  you  carry  that,  Eben,  into  the  shop  ? " 
Eben  was  a  very  small  boy,  but  he  was  very 
glad  to  help  when  he  could.  He  took  the  board, 
which  was  not  very  heavy,  but  was  about  as 
much  as  he  could  well  carry,  and  began  lugging 
it  along. 

"  Now,  Robert,"  said  the  General,  "  some 
time  this  afternoon,  I  want  you  to  saw  out  a 
piece  of  board  just  the  size  of  that,  and  get  it 
all  ready  to  put  on.  When  it  is  done,  carry  it 
out  to  the  gate,  and  stand  it  up  there.  Also  put 
a  tool-box  there,  and  an  axe,  so  that  every  thing 
will  be  ready,  and  then  remind  me  at  supper-time 
to  go  and  put  it  on.     I  can  put  it  on  in  a  moment, 


48      LUCY  AMONG  THE  MOUNTAINS. 

if  you  get  every  thing  ready.  —  And  now  the  in- 
spection is  over." 

So  saying,  the  General  went  away,  and  Ellen 
said,  — 

"  Well,  Robert,  you  put  your  tools  away,  while 
I  go  and  get  the  cakes." 

"  The  caUes  ? "  said  Lucy  ;  "  what  cakes  ?  " 

"  Why,  mother  always  gives  each  of  us  a  cake, 
inspection  day,  so  that  we  may  not  forget  to  re- 
mind father  of  it." 

Lucy  followed  Ellen  into  the  house.  She 
supposed  that  she  would  go  and  ask  her  mother 
for  the  cakes,  and  Lucy  wished  that  she  was 
going  to  have  one  too.  But  Ellen  did  not  go 
after  her  mother.  She  went  directly  to  a  closet. 
As  she  was  opening  the  door  of  the  closet,  she 
said,  — 

"  Mother  always  puts  our  cakes  here,  on  a 
particular  shelf — three  of  them,  all  in  a  row." 

They  went  into  the  closet,  and  there  they 
found  the  cakes ;  only  there  were  four,  instead  of 
three. 

"  Why,  here  are  four,"  said  Ellen  ;  "  mother 
has  made  a  mistake." 

"  No,"  said  Lucy  ;  "  one  must  be  for  me." 

"So  it  is,"  said  Ellen,  "I've  no  doubt.  I'll 
go  and  ask  mother." 


THE    INSPECTION.  49 

She  accordingly  went  off  to  ask  her  mother, 
and  presently  came  back  saying  that  the  fourth 
was  for  Lucy.  And  she  accordingly  gave  her 
one.  It  was  a  round  cake,  not  very  thick,  but 
it  looked  as  if  it  was  sweet.  Ellen  carried  the 
other  two  out,  to  give  them  to  Robert  and  Eben. 

Lucy  went  to  show  hers  to  her  mother.  She 
found  her  taking  a  walk  under  the  trees  which 
Lucy  had  seen  from  out  the  bedroom  window. 
Lucy  took  hold  of  her  mother's  hand  with  one  of 
hers,  while  she  held  the  cake  in  the  other ;  and  so 
she  walked  along  with  her,  and  told  her  all  about 
the  inspection. 

Her  mother  listened  with  a  good  deal  of  in- 
terest ;  and  when  she  had  done,  she  said  that  she 
thought  it  was  an  excellent  plan  to  have  an  in- 
spection. 

"  Yes,  mother,  and  so  do  I ;  and  I  wish  you 
would  have  one  when  we  go  home." 

"  I  think  I  will,"  said  her  mother. 

"  Once  a  month,  mother,"  said  Lucy ;  "  it 
must  be  once  a  month.  The  General  has  it  once 
a  month." 

"  Yes,"  said  her  mother,  "  I  should  think  that 
about  right.     I  can  inspect  your  Treasury." 

"  Yes,  mother,"  said  Lucy ;   "  I'll  keep  it  in 
excellent  order. 
5 


50      LUCY  AMONG  THE  MOUNTAINS. 

"Only  you  couldn't  mend  the  broken  thing3 
about  the  house,  very  well,"  continued  Lucy. 

"  No,"  said  her  mother  ;  "  but,  then,  our  in- 
spection would  not  be  just  like  a  farmer's.  We 
should  inspect  drawers,  and  closets,  and  cup- 
boards, and  such  places.  I  think  it  will  be  an 
excellent  plan." 

"  And  a  cake  for  me  and  Royal,  at  the  end," 
said  Lucy. 

"  Is  that  an  essential  part  of  the  plan  ?  "  asked 
her  mother. 

"  Essential  ?  "  repeated  Lucy  ;  "  what  is  es- 
sential ?  " 

"  Why,  necessary ;  that  is,  is  it  an  indispen- 
sable part  of  the  plan  that  there  should  be  cakes 
distributed  ? " 

«  Why,  yes,"  said  Lucy ;  "  that  is  to  make  us 
remind  you  of  it.  You  see,  you  would  forget 
when  inspection  day  was  coming,  unless  we  re- 
minded you ;  and  so  we  must  have  a  cake." 

On  reflection,  Lucy's  mother  concluded  that 
this  was,  as  Lucy  represented,  a  very  important 
part  of  the  plan  ;  and  she  pretty  nearly  concluded 
that,  when  she  returned  home,  she  would  adopt 
the  inspection  system,  for  her  part  of  the  house, 
cakes  and  all. 


51 


CHAPTER    IV. 
A  WALK. 

That  evening,  after  the  inspection,  Lucy  and 
her  mother  went  out  to  take  a  walk  upon  a  high 
hill  back  of  the  General's  house,  to  see  the  pros- 
pect. Comfort  told  them  that  they  could  get  to 
the  top  of  it  without  going  through  the  grass 
at  all. 

"  Why  don't  you  want  to  go  through  the  grass, 
mother  ? "  said  Lucy. 

"  Because  there  may  be  some  dew  upon  it, 
which  might  wet  our  feet,"  said  her  mother. 
"  But  are  you  sure,  Comfort,"  said  she,  "  that  we 
can  get  up  to  the  top  without  getting  into  the 
grass  ? " 

"  Yes,"  said  Comfort,  "  I'm  sure  ;  and  I'll  go, 
if  you  wish,  and  show  you  the  way." 

Lucy's  mother  liked  this  plan  very  much  ;  and 
so  they  set  off  together,  about  half  an  hour  be- 
fore sunset.  They  followed  a  cart-road  down 
into  a  little  valley,  and  went  across  the  brook ; 


52      LUCY  AMONG  THE  MOUNTAINS. 

and  then  they  began  to  climb  up  by  a  narrow 
and  rocky  path  among  the  trees.  The  path  was 
very  steep,  and  it  was  much  farther  than  they 
had  supposed.  In  fact,  Lucy's  mother  soon  be- 
gan to  be  very  tired.  She  was  not  accustomed 
to  climb  up  the  hills. 

Presently  they  came  to  a  rocky  place  under 
some  cliffs,  and  Lucy's  mother  said  that  she  be- 
lieved that  she  would  not  go  any  farther. 

"  O  mother,"  said  Lucy,  "  I  want  to  go  to  the 
top  very  much." 

"  Very  well,"  said  her  mother ;  "  you  may  go 
with  Comfort,  if  you  wish  to,  and  I  will  ramble 
about  here.  If  you  don't  find  me  here  when 
you  come  down,  you  may  conclude  that  I  have 
gone  home." 

So  she  turned  off,  and  began  to  walk  along 
under  the  cliffs,  gathering  blue-bells  and  other 
flowers  that  grew  among  the  rocks.  Comfort 
and  Lucy  left  her,  and  went  on  up  the  steep 
path. 

"  O,  what  a  steep  place !  "  said  Lucy. 

"  This  is  not  very  steep,"  said  Comfort. 
"  There  are  paths  up  jhe  mountains  much 
steeper  than  this." 

"  Then  I  don't  see  how  you  get  up,"  said 
Lucy. 


A    WALK.  53 

"  O,  we  climb  along,"  replied  Comfort  ,  M  we 
step  up  from  one  stone  to  another." 

The  path  was  very  tortuous  ;  that  is,  it  turned 
and  twisted  about  a  great  deal  among  the  rocks 
and  around  the  points  of  precipices.  It  was,  in 
fact,  a  very  wild  and  desolate-looking  place  ;  and 
pretty  soon  Lucy  began  to  be  afraid.  She  did 
not  know  exactly  what  she  was  afraid  of,  but  she 
began  to  wish  that  she  had  staid  down  below  with 
her  mother. 

She  was  not  much  accustomed  to  rocks  and 
mountains,  and  there  was  something  frightful  to 
her  in  the  ragged  precipices,  the  gloomy  thickets, 
and  particularly  in  a  dark  ravine,  which  she  could 
look  down  into  in  one  place.  Besides,  she 
thought  that  perhaps  there  might  be  some  bears 
there. 

She  did  not,  however,  like  to  acknowledge  to 
Comfort  that  she  was  afraid.  So,  after  they  had 
been  walking  along  a  little  while,  she  said,  — 

"  How  much  farther  is  it,  Comfort  ?  " 

"  Not  a  great  way.     Why,  are  you  tired  ?  " 

"  Why,  no,"  said  Lucy,  "  not  exactly ;  but  I 
wish  my  mother  had  come  too." 

"  So  do  I,"  said  Comfort ;  "  she  would  like  the 
prospect,  I  know.  We  can  see  away  down  to 
the  lower  falls." 

5* 


54      LUCY  AMONG  THE  MOUNTAINS. 

K  How  far  is  that  ? "  said  Lucy. 

"  O,  it  is  several  miles,  down  the  valley." 

"  Is  it  as  many  as  seventy  miles  ?  "  said  Lucy 

"  No,"  said  Comfort,  "  not  quite  seventy." 

"  Is  it  a  hundred  miles,  then  ? "  said  Lucy. 

"  Why,  a  hundred  miles  are  more  than  seventy, 
child." 

While  Lucy  had  been  talking  thus,  she  had 
been  lagging  behind  Comfort,  and  seemed  reluc- 
tant to  advance.  They  had  come  to  a  steep 
place,  where  they  had  to  climb  up  a  rocky  ascent, 
which  turned,  in  a  spiral  manner,  around  the  point 
of  a  little  precipice.  There  were  bushes  and 
briers  on  each  side,  growing  out  of  the  crevices  of 
the  rocks,  and  from  the  little  patches  of  earth. 
Comfort  went  up  a  few  steps,  and  then  stopped 
for  Lucy. 

"Come,  Lucy;  why  don't  you  come?"  said 
she. 

"  Why,  I  think,  Comfort,"  said  Lucy,  "  that 
we  had  better  not  go  any  farther.  I  think  we  had 
better  go  back  and  find  my  mother." 

"  O,  your  mother  is  safe  enough,  child." 

"  But  I  am  afraid  she'll  get  lost,"  said  Lucy. 

Comfort  laughed  at  Lucy  for  being  afraid  that 
her  mother  would  get  lost. 

"  She  can't  get  lost,"  said  she.     "  She  can't  go 


A    WALK.  55 

but  a  very  little  way  under  the  cliffs  before  she 
comes  to  the  end." 

u  The  end  of  what  ?  "  said  Lucy. 

"  Why,  the  end  of  the  level  place  where  she 
can  walk,"  said  Comfort.  "  After  you  go  out 
there  a  little  way,  the  rocks  go  right  down,  as 
steep  as  the  sides  of  a  house." 

"  Then  I'm  afraid  that  she  will  fall  down 
there,"  said  Lucy. 

Comfort  told  her  there  was  no  danger ;  but  Lu- 
cy would  not  be  convinced.  The  more  she  ar- 
gued, the  less  possibility  there  seemed  to  be  of 
making  any  impression.  The  truth  was,  Lucy 
was  not  really  afraid  for  her  mother,  but  for  her- 
self. And  the  reason  which  she  offered  for  wish- 
ing to  return,  was  only  the  ostensible  reason,  not 
the  real  one  ;  that  is,  it  was  a  reason  that  she 
chose  to  offer,  not  the  one  that  she  really  felt.  It 
is  of  no  use  to  attempt  to  reply  to  reasons  that  are 
only  ostensible,  because  they  are  not  the  ones 
that  really  influence  the  mind  ;  and  so,  even  if 
you  show  that  such  reasons  are  not  good  ones, 
the  person  is  not  convinced  any  more  than  before. 
If  Comfort  had  known  that  the  real  reason  why 
Lucy  did  not  want  to  go  any  farther,  was,  that 
she  was  afraid  herself,  perhaps  she  would  have 
said  something  to  encourage  her,  and  lead  her  to 


56      LUCY  AMONG  THE  MOUNTAINS. 

go  on.  But  while  she  was  only  arguing  against 
Lucy's  supposed  fears  for  her  mother,  she  was 
doing  no  good  at  all ;  for  this  was  not  the  true 
reason.  Wjen,  therefore,  we  attempt  to  argue 
against  people's  objections  to  any  thing  which  we 
propose,  it  is  very  necessary  first  to  be  sure  that 
the  objections  which  they  offer  are  real  objections, 
not  merely  ostensible  ones. 

Presently  Comfort  proposed  to  Lucy  that  she 
should  go  up  a  little  farther,  and  she  would  come 
to  a  place  where  they  could  see  the  house. 

"  How  much  farther  is  it  ?  "  asked  Lucy. 

"  Only  up  to  the  top  of  this  rock,"  said  Com- 
fort;  "come,  I'll  help  you." 

So  saying,  Comfort  came  down  to  where  Lucy 
was  standing,  and  held  out  her  hand  to  her. 
Lucy  was  still  somewhat  reluctant  to  go ;  but 
Comfort  told  her  that  they  could  see  the  house 
and  the  yard,  and  very  likely  they  could  see  the 
people  walking  about  there  ;  and  so  Lucy,  on  the 
whole,  concluded  to  go.  Comfort  helped  her  up 
from  one  step  to  another  over  the  ragged  stones, 
and  presently  they  reached  the  top. 

Then  they  went  through  some  bushes  a  little 
way,  and  came  out,  a  moment  afterwards,  upon  a 
sort  of  shelf  of  rock,  where*  they  had  a  fine 
view. 


A    WALK.  57 

It  was  not  a  very  extensive  view,  for  the  other 
*ocks  and  trees,  rising  on  each  side,  intercepted 
the  prospect,  excepting  in  the  direction  which 
was  down  towards  the  General's  house.  The 
house  lay  almost  beneath  their  feet ;  'and,  as 
Comfort  had  said,  they  could  see  all  the  build- 
ings, and  the  yards,  and  the  garden.  Lucy  saw  a 
large  flock  of  sheep,  too,  coming  up  towards  the 
barn,  from  a  green  path  behind  it. 

"  There,  Lucy,"  said  Comfort,  "  is  not  this  a 
pleasant  place  ? " 

"  Yes,"  said  Lucy,  "  and  there's  my  mother 
now,  just  going  into  the  house." 

"  So  she  is,"  said  Comfort ;  "  she  has  got  tired 
of  waiting  for  us,  and  has  gone  in.  Now,  you 
can  go  up  to  the  top  of  the  rock  with  me,  for,  you 
see,  she  is  out  of  danger." 

Lucy  looked  steadily  at  her  mother,  and  in  a 
moment  she  began  to  call  out  to  her  with  a  loud 
voice,  — 

"  Mother,  look  at  us." 

But  just  as  the  words  were  uttered,  her  mother 
opened  the  door,  and  went  in,  and  Lucy  saw  the 
door  close  after  her.  Lucy's  attention  was  next 
arrested  by  seeing  several  cows  come  along  a  lane 
behind  the  house.  Comfort  said  that  they  were 
coming  from  the  pasture.     Behind  the  cows  were 


5S      LUCY  AMONG  THE  MOUNTAINS. 

Robert  and  Eben.  Lucy  could  see  that  Eben 
had  a  long  switch  in  his  hand,  and  Robert  had 
an  axe  over  his  shoulder. 

.  "  There  are  Robert  and  Eben,"  said  Lucy,  "  I 
verily  believe." 

"  Yes,"  said  Comfort,  "  they  are  driving  home 
the  cows." 

"  So  they  are,"  replied  Lucy  ;  "  but  Robert  has 
got  an  axe  on  his  shoulder.  What  has  he  been 
doing  with  his  axe,  I  wonder  ?  " 

"  O,  I  suppose,"  replied  Comfort,  "  that  he  has 
been  at  work  upon  his  clearing  this  afternoon : 
and  so,  after  he  had  done  his  work,  he  went  and 
got  the  cows." 

The  road  in  which  the  cows  were  coming,  led 
down  through  a  valley,  and  it  looked  like  a  very 
pleasant  road  indeed.  Lucy  asked  Comfort 
where  it  led  to,  and  she  said  it  led  up  to  the 
pasture.  Then  she  asked  Comfort  what  she 
meant  by  Robert's  clearing;  and  Comfort  told 
her  that  Robert  was  clearing  a  piece  of  land 
somewhere  up  the  road,  but  that  she  did  not 
know  exactly  where  it  was,  or  what  sort  of  a 
place  it  was. 

"I  mean  to  go  down  and  ask  Robert  where 
his  clearing  is,"  said  Lucy. 


A    WALK.  59 

•c  Then  you  will  not  go  up  to  the  top  of  the 
rock  with  me,"  said  Comfort. 

"  No,"  said  Lucy,  "  not  this  time.  We  have 
come  high  enough  for  this  time.  I  must  go  down 
and  find  my  mother.     Perhaps  she  will  want  me." 

"See,"  said  Comfort,  "she  has  just  come  to 
the  window  of  her  bedroom." 

Lucy  looked  down  in  the  direction  in  which 
Comfort  pointed,  and  she  saw  her  mother  just 
taking  a  seat  at  the  window.  Lucy  called  to  her, 
and  waved  her  hand  at  her  a  great  deal,  but  she 
could  not  make  her  hear.  She  thought  that  the 
reason  was,  because  the  cow-bells  made  such  a 
noise ;  but  Comfort  told  her  that  it  was  much 
farther  than  it  appeared  to  be. 

Lucy  stopped  to  gather  a  few  flowers  around 
the  spot  where  they  were  standing,  and  then  she 
and  Comfort  descended.  Lucy  was  not  at  all  in 
a  hurry  to  get  home,  for  her  fears  of  the  strange 
and  wild  scenery  around  them  were  much  dimin- 
ished, when  she  found  that  they  were  going  to- 
wards home.  She  kept  constantly  stopping  to 
gather  flowers,  and  to  pick  up  curious  fragments 
of  the  rocks ;  and  in  one  place  she  found  some 
beautiful  red  berries,  which  she  wanted  to  gather 
and  carry  down  to  her  mother;  but  Comfort  told 
tier  that  she  believed  that  they  were  poisonous. 


60      LUCY  AMONG  THE  MOUNTAINS. 

They  remained  some  time  at  the  cliffs  where 
her  mother  had  stopped,  and  Lucy  found  a  curious 
place  under  the  rocks,  which  she  called  a  den. 
It  was  a  rude  fissure  under  the  precipice,  and  it 
\vas  large  enough  for  Lucy  to  get  into.  She  said 
that,  if  she  should  be  caught  out  on  the  mountains 
m  a  shower,  she  could  get  into  her  den,  and  it 
would  not  rain  upon  her. 

When  they  got  home  again,  as  they  were  pass- 
ing along  by  the  barn,  they  saw  the  cows  stand- 
ing in  a  little  green  yard,  and  Robert  was  just 
bringing  his  milking-stool  and  a  tin  pail.  He  was 
going  to  milk  the  cows.  Lucy  asked  Comfort  to 
let  her  go  in  and  see  him  milk,  and  she  told  her 
she  might  go ;  only  she  said  that  she  must  be 
careful  not  to  go  too  near  the  cows. 

So  Comfort  went  into  the  house,  and  Lucy 
went  through  a  little  gate  into  the  yard.  Ellen 
came  in  just  after  her,  bringing  a  little  milking- 
stool,  and  pail  too,  just  as  Robert  had  done. 

"  Are  you  going  to  milk,  too,  Ellen  ? "  said 
Lucy. 

"  Yes,"  said  Ellen  ;  "  I  milk  every  night." 

So  Ellen  took  her  seat  near  one  of  the  cows; 
and  began  milking  into  her  pail  very  fast. 

"  Why,  how  easy  it  is  to  milk ! "  said  Lucy 
"  I  did  not  know  that  it  was  so  easy." 


A    WALK.  Gl 

Lucy  was  mistaken  in  supposing  "that  it  was 
very  easy.  It  is  a  general  rule,  that  whatever  we 
see  done  skilfully  appears  to  be  done  with  ease ; 
and  as  Ellen  was  a  very  good  little  milkmaid, 
and  the  milk  came  down  in  fine  large  streams  into 
the  pail,  Lucy  supposed  that  it  must  be  very 
easy. 

"  I  wish  you  would  let  me  milk  a  little,"  said 
Lucy. 

"  I  don't  think  you  can  milk,"  replied  Ellen. 

"  O,  yes,  I  can,"  said  Lucy ;  "  I  do  harder  things 
than  that." 

"  But  I  don't  think  your  hand  is  strong  enough," 
said  Ellen. 

Lucy  held  out  her  hand,  and  looked  at  it,  and 
thought  it  looked  pretty  strong. 

"  And,  besides,"  said  Ellen,  "have  you  ever 
learned  to  milk?" 

"  No,"  said  Lucy,  "  I  never  had  any  oppor- 
tunity." 

"  Then  I'm  sure  you  can't  milk,"  said  Ellen ; 
li  for  nobody  can  milk  till  they  have  learned." 

"  But  I  wish  that  you  would  let  me  try,  and 
see,"  said  Lucy. 

Ellen  concluded,  on  the  whole,  to  let  Lucy  try  ; 
so  she  rose  from  the  milking-stool,  and  let  Lucy 
take  her  place. 

6 


62      LUCY  AMONG  THE  MOUNTAINS. 

Lucy  tried  very  hard,  but  the  milk  would  not 
come.     She  was  very  much  surprised. 

"  Why  !  "  said  she.  Then  she  tried  again  ; 
she  tugged  away  with  all  her  strength.  "  Why ! 
How  do  you  do  it  ? "  said  she. 

Ellen  laughed;  and  the  cow,  perceiving  that 
some  new  and  inexperienced  hand  was  at  work, 
and  not  liking  to  be  experimented  upon,  began  to 
move.  Ellen  had  just  time  to  catch  up  the  pail, 
when  she  walked  quietly  off,  two  or  three  steps, 
and  then  stood  still. 

Lucy  was  frightened,  and  jumped  up  and  ran. 

Ellen  took  up  her  stool  by  its  handle,  and  fol- 
lowed the  cow ;  and,  taking  her  seat  again,  went 
on  with  her  milking.  Lucy  walked  off  to  Robert, 
and  asked  him  about  his  clearing. 

She  did  not,  however,  have  the  opportunity  to 
get  the  information  which  she  wished  ;  for  just 
then  her  mother,  who  began  to  think  that  it  was 
time  for  her  to  come  down  the  hill,  came  to  the 
door  to  look  for  her ;  and  seeing  her  in  the  yard 
amonf  the  cows,  she  called  to  her  to  come  in. 
When  she  got  to  the  door,  she  asked  her  mother 
if  she  was  not  willing  to  have  her  stay  there  a 
little  longer  and  see  them  milk. 

"  Is  Comfort  there  ?  "  asked  her  mother. 

"  No,  mother,"  said  Lucy,  "  but  Ellen  is." 


A    WALK. 


63 


"I  am  afraid  you  may  get  hurt,"  said  her 
mother.     "  The  cows  may  hook  you." 

Lucy  assured  her  mother  that  there  was  no 
danger;  but  her  mother  thought  it  best  for  her 
not  to  go  there  again  ;  and  so  Lucy  did  not  hear 
any  thing  about  Robert's  clearing  until  the  next 


64 
CHAPTER    V. 

ROBERT'S   CLEARING. 

In  fact,  Lucy  forgot  to  ask  Robert  about  his 
clearing  until  the  next  morning,  after  breakfast, 
when  she  was  out  in  the  yard,  and  saw  him  and 
Eben  preparing  to  go  awa) . 

She  asked  them  where  they  were  going. 

"  We  are  going  to  my  clearing,"  said  Robert ; 
"  and  I  wish  you'd  go  too,  and  be  our  teamster. 
Then  you  shall  own  part  of  my  lamb." 

"  Have  you  got  a  lamb  ?  "  asked  Lucy. 

"  No,"  replied  Robert,  "  not  yet ;  but  1  am 
going  to  have  one.  As  soon  as  I  have  got 
my  clearing  done,  father  is  going  to  give  me  a 
sheep  and  a  lamb ;  and  you  shall  own  part  of  the 
lamb,  if  you  will  go  and  be  my  teamster." 

"  Your  teamster  ?  "  repeated  Lucy. 

"  Yes,"  replied  Robert ;  "  I  am  swamper,  and 
Eben  is  ox,  and  we  want  a  teamster." 

"What  shall  I  have  to  do?  "  asked  Lucy. 

"  O,  you'll  only  have  to  drive  Eben,  when  he 
is  hauling  the  logs." 


Robert's  clearing.  65 

"  Eben  can't  haul  logs,"  said  Lucy. 

"  Yes  he  can,"  said  Robert ;  "  he's  a  very  good 
ox  ;  only  we  want  a  teamster." 

"  Well,"  said  Lucy,  "  I'll  go  and  ask  my 
mother." 

Lucy  accordingly  went  in  and  asked  her  mother. 
Her  mother  wanted  to  know  how  far  it  was  to 
the  clearing;  but  Lucy  could  not  tell.  She  then 
wanted  to  know  how  long  they  were  to  be  gone ; 
but  Lucy  could  not  answer  that  question  either. 
Finally,  her  mother  said  that  she  might  go  and 
ask  Comfort  if  she  thought  that  it  would  be  safe 
for  her  to  go  with  the  boys,  and  let  her  opinion 
decide  the  question. 

Comfort  said  there  would  be  no  danger  if  Lucy 
was  careful  to  keep  out  of  the  way  of  Robert's 
axe.     So  they  all  set  off  together. 

They  followed  the  lane  where  Lucy  had  seen 
the  cows  come  down  the  evening  before,  for  some 
distance.  It  led,  in  a  winding  direction,  up  a  val- 
ley, with  a  brook  upon  one  side  of  the  road. 

"  What  a  pretty  brook  !  "  said  Lucy. 

"  Yes,"  said  Robert ;  "  that  is  the  brook  that  I 
am  going  to  float  down  my  logs  upon." 

"  Your  logs  ?  "  repeated  Lucy. 

"  Yes,"  replied  Robert,  "  the  logs  I  get.  off  my 
clearing.     I  cut  them  down,  and  Eben  hauls  them 


66      LUCY  AMONG  THE  MOUNTAINS. 

to  the  edge  of  the  brook ;  and  then,  when  there 
comes  a  freshet,  we're  going  to  tumble  them  in, 
and  let  them  float  down  to  the  house." 

"  And  then  they'll  go  by,"  said  Lucy,  "  and 
down  into  the  river." 

"  No,"  said  Robert ;  "  I  shall  have  a  boom  to 
stop  them." 

"  What  is  a  boom  1 "  asked  Lucy. 

"  A  long  log  of  wood  across  the  brook,  to  stop 
my  logs." 

The  brook  which  Robert  said  was  £oin£  to 
float  down  his  lumber,  was  there  a  small  stream, 
tumbling  over  rocks  along  the  valley.  Presently, 
however,  they  came  to  a  place  where  the  valley 
widened  a  little,  and  there  was  a  level  piece  of 
ground  on  one  side  of  it.  On  the  other  side,  the 
land  descended  steep  to  the  very  brink  of  the 
brook.  The  low  piece  of  ground  was  covered 
pretty  thick  with  tall  alder-bushes,  twice  as  high 
as  a  man's  head  ;  so  that  the  stems  of  them,  when 
they  were  cut  down,  made  pretty  large  poles. 
There  was  one  spot,  where  a  considerable  number 
of  them  had  been  cut  down.  In  the  middle  of 
this  spot,  there  was  a  pile  of  branches  and  tops, 
heaped  up  pretty  high.  There  were,  also,  near 
the  edge  of  the  brook,  some  piles  of  the  wood 
whch  Robert  had  got  out,  and  which  Eben  had 


Robert's  clearing.  67 

hauled  to  the  bank.  Robert  went  into  this  place, 
and  began  at  once  to  cut  down  one  of  the  tallest 
bushes. 

Lucy  watched  the  blows  of  his  axe,  until,  at 
last,  the  tree  began  to  fall.  It  would  have  fallen 
over  upon  her,  had  not  Robert  called  upon  her  to 
run  away.  When  it  was  down,  Robert  cut  off 
the  top  and  all  the  branches,  and  these  he  put  on 
the  heap.  Then  he  cut  the  long  pole  in  two,  in 
the  middle.  This  made  two  short  poles  of  it. 
Then  Eben  came  up  with  a  small  chain  which 
he  had  in  his  hand,  and  wrhich  he  had  brought 
with  him,  and  contrived  to  hook  it  around  one 
end  of  one  of  the  poles,  and  then  began  to  draw 
it  off  towards  the  brook. 

"  Is  that  the  kind  of  log  you  meant,  that  Eben 
could  draw  ?  "  asked  Lucy. 

"  Yes,"  said  Robert. 

"  O.  I  thought  you  meant  a  large  log." 

«  O  J  CO 

"  No,"  said  Robert ;  "  we  call  these  our  logs. 
We  are  going  to  get  a  great  many  piles  of  them 
by  the  brook ;  and  then,  when  there  comes  a  freshet, 
we  are  coming  up  here,  and  going  to  tumble  them 
in,  and  let  them  sail  away  down  home." 

Robert  cut  Lucy  a  long  stick  for  a  goad-stick, 
and  then  she  drove  Eben  back  and  forth  several 


68      LUCY  AMONG  THE  MOUNTAINS. 

times,  drawing  the  logs,  as  Robert  called  them. 
At  length,  Lucy  stopped,  and  said, — 

"  But,  Robert,  what  do  you  mean  by  swamper  1 
You  said  that  you  were  swamper." 

"  Yes,"  said  Robert ;  "  I'm  swamper  and  chop- 
per too." 

"  1  don't  understand  what  you  mean  by  swamper 
and  chopper,"  said  Lucy. 

"  Why,  when  they  are  cutting  trees  in  the  woods, 
for  timber,  they  always  have  a  swamper,  and  a 
chopper,  and  some  oxen,  and  a  teamster.  The 
swamper  finds  out  which  the  good  trees  are,  and 
he  makes  a  road  to  them,  so  that,  when  they  are 
cut  down,  they  can  haul  them  out.  The  chopper 
cuts  them  down,  and  cuts  off  the  top.  Then  the 
teamster  comes  with  his  oxen,  and  hauls  them  off 
to  the  river." 

"  Is  that  the  way  ?  "  said  Lucy. 

"  Yes  ;  my  father  told  me,"  said  Robert. 

"  Why  doesn't  one  man  do  it  all  ?  "  said  Lucy. 

"I  don't  know  exactly,"  said  Robert;  "but  I 
wish  I  had  some  fire  here,  to  set  my  heap  on  fire." 

"  Are  you  going  to  set  that  great  heap  on  fire  ? " 
asked  Lucy. 

"  Yes,"  said  Robert,  "  when  I  get  it  big 
enough." 


Robert's  clearing.  G9 

"  I  don't  believe  it  will  burn,"  said  Lucy  ;  "  it 
is  all  green  leaves." 

et  It  will  burn,"  said  Robert,  "  if  I  could  only- 
get  it  well  on  fire.  The  trouble  is,  to  set  it 
a-£oin£." 

So  saying,  he  and  Lucy  went  up  to  look  at  the 
great  heap  of  branches  which  he  had  made  in  the 
middle  of  his  clearing.  '  Robert  said  that,  if  he 
could  find  some  good  dry  wood  somewhere  to  begin 
it  with,  it  would  make  a  noble  fire ;  and  he  also 
said  that  he  meant  to  have  brought  some  fire  that 
morning,  but  he  forgot  it.  Finally,  he  said  that, 
if  Lucy  and  Eben  would  go  and  get  some  fire,  he 
would  find  some  good  dry  wood,  and  they  would 
have  a  burning. 

Lucy  was  at  first  afraid  to  attempt  to  bring 
any  fire  ;  but  Robert  told  her  that  Comfort  would 
give  her  a  lantern,  so  that  it  could  be  brought 
without  any  difficulty  or  danger.  Then  she  was 
afraid  that  she  should  not  be  able  to  find  her  way. 
But  Robert  said  that  Eben  knew  the  way  ;  and 
so,  at  last,  after  much  hesitation,  Lucy  concluded 
to  go.  Accordingly,  Robert  went  over,  across  the 
brook,  to  the  side  of  the  hill,  which  was  covered 
with  large  trees,  to  see  if  he  could  find  some  old 
dry  log  or  stump,  which  he  could  cut  to  pieces, 
and  use  to  kindle  his  fire.     He  found  one  with- 


70      LUCY  AMONG  THE  MOUNTAINS. 

out  much  difficulty.  It  was  the  ruins  of  an  old 
tree,  which  the  wind  had  blown  over  about  ten 
years  before.  It  was  leaning  against  the  other 
trees,  and  was  very  much  decayed.  The  limbs 
had  nearly  all  dropped  off,  and  it  looked  so  dry 
that  Robert  thought  that,  if  he  could  get  it  down, 
and  split  it  up,  it  would  be  excellent  for  his  fire. 

In  the  mean  time,  Lucy  and  Eben  walked 
along  slowly  towards  the  house.  When  they  got 
there,  Lucy  sat  down  upon  a  chopping-block  in 
the  yard,  while  Eben  went  in  to  ask  his  mother  for 
the  lantern.  While  he  was  gone,  Lucy  happened 
to  think  that,  perhaps,  her  mother  would  not  like 
to  have  her  go  and  help  make  a  fire  in  the  woods, 
and,  at  any  rate,  that  she  had  better  go  and  get 
leave.  She  reflected  that,  if  she  went  without 
leave,  she  should  feel  uncertain  and  doubtful,  all 
the  time,  whether  she  was  doing  right  or  wrong ; 
and  that  would  destroy  the  pleasure  of  the  fire. 
So  she  got  up,  and  went  into  the  house  to  find  her 
mother. 

She  found  her  seated  at  a  window  in  the  kitch- 
en, with  the  General's  wife  and  Ellen,  all  par- 
ing apples  for  an  apple-pudding  which  they  were 
going  to  have  for  dinner. 

"  O  mother,"  said  Lucy,  "  let  me  pare  some 
apples." 


71 


"  O,  no,  Lucy,"  said  Ellen  ;  "  you'll  only  cut 
your  fingers.  It  is  harder  to  pare  apples,  than  it 
is  to  milk." 

The  farmer's  wife  then  said  that  she  had  better 
not  attempt  to  pare  any  apples,  but  that  she 
might  have  some  to  eat ;  and  she  gave  Lucy 
two.  Just  then,  Eben  came  in,  out  of  a  back 
room,  with  the  lantern  in  his  hand.  This  re- 
minded Lucy  of  her  errand,  and  so  she  told  her 
mother  what  Robert  was  going  to  do ;  and  she 
asked  her  if  she  had  any  objection  to  her  going  to 
see  him. 

"  Why,  this  is  a  serious  question,"  said  her 
mother.    "  I  am  afraid  it  would  not  be  quite  safe." 

"  Why,  Eben  says,"  replied  Lucy,  "  that  they 
often  make  fires  in  the  wood,  and  they  never  get 
burnt." 

"  But  you'd  be  in  more  danger  than  Eben," 
said  her  mother. 

"  Why,  mother  ?  "  asked  Lucy. 

"  Because,"  said  her  mother,  "  in  the  first  place, 
you  are  not  so  accustomed  to  fires  in  the  woods, 
and  wouldn't  know  so  well  where  the  danger 
would  lie.  Besides,  your  clothes  are  of  cotton, 
and,  if  they  should  take  fire,  they  would  burn  very 
fast ;  but  Eben's  are  woollen." 

Lucy  looked  at  her  clothes,  and   at   Eben's. 


72      LUCY  AMONG  THE  MOUNTAINS. 

Eben  stood  by,  listening  very  attentively  to  what 
was  said,  but  he  made  no  reply. 

"  I've  a  great  mind  to  go  with  you,  and  take 
care  of  you,"  said  Lucy's  mother.  "  I  should 
like  to  see  the  fire  myself." 

"  Well,"  said  Lucy,  "  that  will  do.  Eben  and 
I  will  walk  on,  and  you  can  come  after  us." 

"  Very  well,"  replied  her  mother ;  "  run  along." 

Accordingly,  Lucy  and  Eben  set  off  together. 
Eben  had  the  lantern  in  his  hand,  and,  after  they 
had  gone  a  few  steps,  Lucy  wanted  to  look  in, 
and  see  whether  it  had  not  gone  out.  It  was  not 
quite  out,  but  it  burned  very  dimly.  Lucy  said  it 
was  almost  out. 

"  No,"  said  Eben  ;  "  that  is  the  way  it  always 
looks." 

"  Then  it  isn't  a  very  good  lantern,"  said 
Lucy. 

"  Yes,  it  is  a  good  lantern,"  said  Eben.  "  It 
makes  a  good  light  in  our  barn  in  the  winter 
nights." 

"  How  do  you  know  ?  "  said  Lucy. 

"  Because,"  said  Eben,  "  my  father  carries  it 
out ;  and  one  morning  I  went  out  with  him,  and 
we  found  some  e££s  with  it." 

"  Where  did  you  find  them  ? "  said  Lucy. 


73 


"  O,  on  a  beam.  There  were  four  eggs.  My 
father  brought  in  three,  and  I  brought  in  three." 

"  O  Eben,"  said  Lucy,  "  that  is  not  right. 
Three  and  three  don't  make  four.', 

"Then  perhaps  it  was  ten,"  said  Eben. 
"  Yes,  I  believe  it  was  ten." 

"  Why,  no,  Eben,"  said  Lucy ;  "  it  couldn't  be 
ten." 

"  Why  not  ? "  asked  Eben. 

"Because,"  said  Lucy,  "  three  and  three  don't 
make  ten." 

"  What  do  they  make  ? "  said  Eben. 

"  Why,  they  make  six,"  replied  Lucy.  "  I'll 
get  a  little  stick,  and  make  some  marks  upon  the 
ground,  and  show  you." 

So  Lucy  got  a  stick,  and  began  making  marks 
upon  a  smooth  place  in  the  road,  corresponding 
with  the  number  of  eggs.  On  more  mature  re- 
flection, Eben  recollected  that  he  brought  in  two 
eggs,  one  in  each  hand,  and  that  his  father  carried 
in  two  in  one  hand,  and  one  in  the  other.  He 
had  one  egg,  he  said,  in  the  hand  which  held  the 
lantern. 

"  Then  there  must  have  been  five  eggs  in  all," 
said  Lucy. 

In  order  to  prove  this  to  Eben's  satisfaction, 
she  msde  two  marks  for  the  egsfs  which  he  carried 


74      LUCY  AMONG  THE  MOUNTAINS. 

in,  and  then  two  more  for  those  which  his  father 
carried  in  in  one  hand,  and  then,  finally,  she 
added  another  mark,  for  the  one  egg  which  his 
father  earned  in  in  his  lantern  hand. 

"  Now,"  said  Lucy,  "  if  you'll  count  them  all 
up,  you'll  see  that  it  makes  just  five,  —  exactly  " 

So  Eben  began  to  count,  — 

"  One  —  two  —  five  —  six  —  four." 

"  O  dear  me  !  "  said  Lucy ;  "  why,  that  isn't 
the  way  to  count." 

"  That's  the  way  /count,"  said  Eben. 

Lucy  looked  extremely  perplexed,  and  did  not 
know  what  to  say ;  but  just  at  that  moment  her 
mother  came  up.  She  saw  that  the  lantern 
which  Eben  had  put  down  upon  the  ground, 
while  he  was  listening  to  his  lesson  in  arithmetic, 
was  leaning  over  to  one  side  ;  and  she  was  afraid 
that  the  light  had  got  put  out.  So  she  took  it  up, 
and  looked  into  it. 

"  No,"  said  Lucy,  "  it  has  not  gone  out,  but 
it  burns  very  dim.  What  makes  it  burn  so  dim, 
mother?  "  she  asked. 

"  O,  it  burns  very  well.  It  looks  rather  dim, 
but  that  is  because  it  is  bright  daylight.  A  candle 
burning  in  the  daylight  always  looks  dim." 

Her  mother  then  asked  her  what  she  was 
making  there  in  the  road.     Lucy  told  her  tnat 


77 


she  had  been  trying  to  explain  to  Eben  that  two 
and  three  made  five. 

"  But,"  said  Lucy,  in  addition,  "  I  cannot  make 
him  understand  it.     He  can't  even  count." 

"  Then,  of  course,"  replied  her  mother,  "  he 
cannot  understand.  You  are  giving  him  your 
instructions  in  the  wrong  order." 

"  How,  mother  ? "  said  Lucy. 

"  Why,  you  are  trying  to  teach  him  addition 
before  he  knows  how  to  count.  You  perceive 
that  a  boy  who  cannot  count  up  to  five  and  six 
does  not  know  what  numbers  the  words  jive  and 
six  stand  for;  and,  of  course,  he  cannot  tell 
whether  two  and  three  make  five,  or  six,  or  what 
they  make." 

"  Then  I'll  teach  him  to  count,"  said  Lucy. 

"  Very  well,"  said  her  mother ;  "  only  let  us 
all  go  along  now,  for  I  want  to  see  the  fire." 

"  O,  yes,"  said  Lucy  ;  "  I  forgot  all  about  the 
fire." 

So  they  all  went  along  together;  only  Lucy 
and  Eben  walked  on  a  little  in  advance,  and  Lucy 
gave  Eben  some  lessons  in  counting,  while  her 
mother  followed  more  slowly,  looking  for  flowers 
on  each  side  of  the  way,  as  she  came  along. 

In  a  short  time,  they  arrived  at  Robert's  clear- 
7# 


78      LUCY  AMONG  THE  MOUNTAINS. 

• 

ing.  They  found  that  he  had  made  fine  prepara 
lions  for  the  fire.  He  had  cut  down  the  old  dead 
tree,  and  chopped  it  up  into  short  pieces ;  and 
he  had  pushed  these  in,  under  the  pile.  He  also 
had  some  strips  of  birch  bark,  which  he  was  going 
to  kindle  with. 

Lucy  came  up  to  the  place  with  the  lantern, 
and  set  it  down  at  Robert's  feet.  Her  mothei 
came  up,  too,  with  a  large  bouquet  of  flowers  in 
one  hand. 

"That  will  make  a  good  fire,  Robert,"  said 
she ;  "  only  it  seems  to  me  that  you  have  got  the 
wood  in  on  the  wrong  side  of  the  heap.' 

"  Why  ?  "  said  Robert. 

"  Because,"  replied  she,  "it  ought  to  be  put  at 
the  side  towards  the  wind.  Then  the  wind  will 
blow  the  heat  and  flame  directly  through  the 
heap,  and  set  it  all  on  fire.  There  is  not  much 
wind,  but  there  is  enough  to  do  some  good." 

"  We'll  try  this  side  first,  now  I've  got  it 
ready,"   said   Robert. 

So  he  took  one  of  his  pieces  of  birch  bark,  and, 
opening  the  lantern  door  very  carefully,  he  put  it 
in,  and  lighted  it.  Now,  birch  bark,  when  it  is 
burning,  makes  quite  a  smoke ;  and  Robert  put 
down  this  burning  piece  near  the  place  where  he 
had  put  his  wood,  in  order  fo   see   which  way 


79 


the  smoke  would  go.  He  found  that  it  was  drift- 
ing off  slowly  away  from  the  heap  of  bushes. 

"  Now,  we'll  try  it  on  the  other  side,"  said  he. 
He  tried  to  take  up  his  piece  of  bark,  but  he 
could  not.  It  had  curled  itself  up  in  a  curious 
manner,  and  was  all  enveloped  in  flame.  So  he 
took  another  piece,  and  lighted  it,  and  carried  that 
around  to  the  other  side  of  the  heap.  He  put  it 
in  just  under  the  edge  of  the  branches.  The 
smoke  curled  up  among  the  branches  and  leaves, 
and  they  were  all  very  much  pleased  to  observe, 
that,  instead  of  sailing  off,  as  it  had  done  on  the 
other  side,  away  from  the  heap,  it  passed  directly 
through  the  centre ;  and  in  a  few  minutes  it  rilled 
the  whole  heap  with  smoke,  which  issued  out  all 
over  the  top  of  it,  as  if  it  was  all  on  fire  under- 
neath. 

"  Yes,"  said  Robert,  "  I'll  move  my  kindling 
wood  round  to  this  side." 

So  he  brought  his  logs  round  one  by  one. 
They  were  pretty  large,  but,  being  much  decayed, 
they  were  not  heavy.  Robert  piled  them  to- 
gether in  as  close  and  compact  a  manner  as  pos- 
sible ;  for  he  said  it  was  necessary  to  make  a 
solid  (ire. 

"  Why  don't  you  set  the  bushes  on  fire,  just 
as  they  are  ? "  asked  Lucy's  mother. 


80      LUCY  AMONG  THE  MOUNTAINS. 

"  Why,  we  can't  make  such  brush  as  this  burn 
well,  alone,"  said  Robert.  "  It  will  catch  fire  a 
little,  and  then  go  right  out,  unless  we  have  a 
good  solid  fire  underneath  it.  Then  it  will  all 
get  to  blazing  together." 

"  Let  me  try,"  said  Lucy,  *c  with  a  piece  of 
your  birchbark." 

"  I'll  light  it  for  you,"  said  her  mother. 

So  they  took  a  large  piece  of  birch  bark,  which 
Robert  handed  them,  and  lighted  it  in  the  lantern. 
Then  they  placed  it  under  the  heap,  at  a  place 
where  the  sprigs  and  branches  of  the  bushes 
were  thickest.  The  bark  soon  began  to  blaze 
up  well,  and  immediately  the  leaves  and  branches 
above  it  began  to  take  fire. 

"  There,"  said  Lucy,  "  it  bums." 

"Wait,"  said  her  mother;  "  let  us  see.  how  it 
will  work." 

It  blazed  up  finely  very  soon,  making  a  bright 
flame,  nearly  a  foot  high,  and  the  wind  blew  the 
smoke  and  sparks  directly  through  the  top  of  the 
heap.  Lucy,  and,  in  fact,  her  mother,  expected 
that  it  would  set  the  whole  heap  on  fire. 

Robert  and  Eben  looked  on  in  silence. 

In  a  moment  the  blaze  began  to  subside.  It 
burned  fainter  and  fainter,  and  at  last,  after  a  few 
minutes^  it  all  died  away,  leaving  nothing  but  a 


ROBERT'S    CLEARING. 


81 


hole  in  that  part  of  the  heap,  with  the  bright  ends 
of  the  twigs,  which  had  been  burned  off  all  around, 
pointing  in  towards  the  centre. 

By  this  time,  Robert  was  prepared  to  put  fire 
to  his  logs,  and  he  soon  got  them  well  on  fire. 
He  had  pushed  them  in  as  far  under  the  heap  as 
he  could,  and  the  wind  carried  the  heat  and 
flame  through  the  very  heart  of  it.  In  a  few 
minutes,  large  volumes  of  white  smoke  came  pour- 
ing up,  out  of  the  top  of  the  pile,  in  the  most  beau- 
tiful manner.  Flashes  of  flame  soon  began  to 
break  out  in  the  midst  of  this  smoke,  and  in  a 
short  time  they  all  had  to  stand  back  from  the 
heat  produced  by  the  high,  crackling  flames. 
After  some  time,  they  all  went  up  upon  a  bank 
near  by,  under  some  trees,  and  sat  down  upon  a 
small  log,  to  watch  the  progress  of  the  fire. 


82 

CHAPTER    VT 
PHILOSOPHY. 

"  What  a  noble  great  fire  !  "  said  Lucy. 

"  Yes,"  replied  her  mother ;  "  in  the  night  1 
think  that  that  fire  would  make  quite  a  spectacle." 

"  Would  it  burn  brighter  in  the  night  ?  "  said 
Lucy. 

"  No,  it  would  not  really  burn  any  brighter,  but 
it  would  look  brighter.  It  would  illuminate  the 
whole  sky.  It  is  a  fine  fire  now ;  but  it  does  not 
make  such  a  display  in  the  daytime,  as  it  would 
in  the  night.  Just  like  the  candle  in  your  lantern  ; 
you  remember  how  dim  it  looked.  That  was  be- 
cause it  was  surrounded  by  daylight." 

"  I  should  think  we  could  see  things  better  by 
daylight,"  said  Lucy. 

"  We  can,  every  thing  but  fires  and  lights," 
replied  her  mother.  "  Those  we  can  see  better 
in  the  night." 

"  Why  is  it  so,  mother? "  said  Lucy. 

"  Why,  the  light  of  the  sun  and  of  the  day  is 
so  bright  that  we  can't  see  the  light  of  the  fire." 


PHILOSOPHY.  83 

"  I  don't  see  why  we  can't  see  both,  mother," 
said  Lucy. 

"  Why,  you  see,"  said  Robert,  "  it  dazzles  our 
eyes,  —  the  light  of  the  sun  does,  —  and  we  can't 
see  so  well." 

"  I  am  sure  I  can  see  better  in  the  day  than  in 
the  night,"  said  Lucy. 

"  That's  a  mistake,"  said  her  mother. 

"  O  mother  !  "  said  Lucy. 

"  In  one  sense  you  can ;  that  is,  you  can  see 
more  things,  because  there  is  so  much  more  light ; 
hut  your  eye  is  not  so  sensitive." 

f  What  do  you  mean  by  sensitive  1 "  asked 
Lucy. 

"  Why,  let  me  see,"  said  her  mother ;  "  how 
shall  I  explain  it  to  you  ?  " 

Here  she  hesitated,  and  appeared  to  be  thinking. 
Lucy  and  Robert  sat  still,  and  did  not  interrupt 
her.  As  for  Eben,  he  began  to  be  tired  of  this 
philosophical  discussion,  and  so  he  got  off  from 
the  log,  and  began  to  punch  a  stick  down  into  a 
hole  under  the  root  of  a  tree.  He  thought  that  it 
was  a  squirrel's  hole,  and  he  wanted  to  make  the 
squirrel  come  out. 

iC  Suppose,"  said  Lucy's  mother,  after  a  mo- 
ment's pause,  "  that  I  had  a  small  box,  light  all 
around,  excepting  at  one  end,  where  there  was  a 


84      LUCY  AMONG  THE  MOUNTAINS. 

small  hole,  just  big  enough  to  look  through.  Then 
suppose  that  I  should  have  a  picture  pasted  against 
the  back  side  of  the  box  opposite  to  the  hole." 

"  We  couldn't  see  it,  mother,"  said  Lucy  ;  "  it 
would  be  all  dark." 

"  Yes,  that's  true,"  said  her  mother.  "  But  now 
suppose  I  should  make  another  hole  in  the  side  of 
the  box  to  let  in  a  little  light." 

"  How  could  you  make  it,  mother?  "  said  Lucy. 

"  O,  I  don't  know,  —  I  could  get  Royal  to  bore 
it  for  me  with  his  gimlet." 

"  That  wouldn't  be  big  enough,"  said  Lucy.  , 

"  Hasn't  he  got  a  big  one  ?  "  asked  her  mother. 

"  Yes,"  said  Lucy,  "  he  has  got  one,  but  it 
does  not  make  a  good  hole ;  and  then  it  almost 
always  splits  the  wood.  I  think  it  would  spoil 
the  box  to  have  him  bore  a  hole  in  it  with  the 
large  one." 

"  O,"  said  her  mother,  "  it  won't  hurt  the  box ; 
it  is  nothing  but  an  imaginary  box." 

"An  imaginary  box  ? "  repeated  Lucy. 

"  Yes,"  said  her  mother ;  "  it  is  only  an  ima- 
ginary box,  and  it  won't  hurt  it  to  bore  an  ima- 
ginary hole  in  it." 

Lucy  laughed,  and  her  mother  went  on  with 
the  illustration 

"  Now,  suppose,"  said  she,  "  we  had  such  a 


PHILOSOPHY.  85 

box,  with  a  picture  pasted  on  the  back  part,  in- 
side, and  a  small  hole  opposite  to  the  picture  to 
look  through.  Suppose  that  there  was  also  a  hole 
in  the  side  of  the  box,  to  let  in  a  little  light.  Now, 
suppose  that  you  were  to  bring  your  eye  up  sud- 
denly to  the  eye-hole,  in  the  daytime,  and  also  in 
the  night ;  in  which  case  do  you  think  that  you 
could  see  the  picture  most  distinctly  ?  " 

"  I  don't  know,"  said  Lucy. 

"  In  the  night,"  said  Robert. 

"  Why  ?  "  t asked  Lucy's  mother. 

"  Because,"  said  Robert,  "  I  can  always  see 
down  cellar  better  in  the  night  than  I  can  in  the 
Jaytime  :  and  that  is  something  like  it." 

"  But  I  can  see  down  cellar  better  in  the  day- 
time," said  Lucy. 

"That  is  because  our  cellar  is  lighted  with 
windows,"  said  her  mother.  "  But  yours,  Robert, 
is  dark,  I  suppose." 

"  Yes,  ma'am,"  said  Robert ;  "  I  never  heard  of 
windows  in  a  cellar." 

"  They  sometimes  have  windows  in  a  cellar," 
said  Lucy's  mother,  in  reply.  "  But  where  there 
are  no  windows,  and  you  have  to  take  a  light 
down,  it  is  much  more  difficult  to  see  in  the  day- 
time than  in  the  night.  So  it  would  be  in  such  a 
box.  If  you  were  to  come  up  to  it  suddenly  in  the 
8 


86      LUCY  AMONG  THE  MOUNTAINS. 

daytime,  you  would  find  that  you  could  see  but 
very  little.  But  if  it  were  possible  for  you  to  come 
to  it  in  the  night,  and  look  in,  and  yet  have  daylight 
shine  in  through  the  hole  in  the  side,  just  as  be- 
fore, you  would  find  that  you  could  see  much 
better." 

"  I'm  sure  I  don't  see  why,"  said  Lucy. 

"  The  reason  is,"  said  her  mother,  "  that  a 
bright  light  changes  the  condition  of  the  eye  some 
how  or  other,  —  I  don't  know  exactly  how,  but  I 
know  it  changes  it,  —  so  that  it  is  not  so  sensitive  to 
light.  So,  after  we  have  been  walking  about  in 
the  bright  day,  if  we  go  down  cellar  with  a  candle, 
we  can't  see  very  well.  Our  eyes  have  been 
changed  in  some  way  by  the  great  light  of  the 
day,  so  that  we  can't  distinguish  the  objects  in 
the  cellar,  which  are  illuminated  only  by  the  dim 
light  of  the  candle." 

"  If  we  stay  down  some  time,"  said  Robert, 
"  then  we  can  see  better." 

"  Yes,"  said  Lucy's  mother,  "  because  then 
your  eyes  become  changed  again,  and  adapted  to 
the  faint  light.  They  become  more  sensitive,  and 
then,  of  course,  when  you  come  out  again  into  the 
bright  light  of  day,  they  are  too  sensitive,  and  you 
are  dazzled." 


PHILOSOPHY.  87 

"  Yes,  ma'am,"  said  Robert ;  "  that  is  exactly 
the  way." 

Lucy's  attention  was  here  taken  up  by  watch- 
ing Eben,  who  seemed  very  much  interested  in 
looking  into  the  hole  which  he  had  been  punching. 
He  was  trying  whether  he  could  see  the  squirrel 
there.  She  jumped  off  the  log,  and  went  to  the 
hole,  saying, — 

"  Can  you  see  him,  Eben  ?  " 

"  Yes,"  said  Eben,  "  I  believe  I  can  see  him." 

"  Let  me  look,"  said  Lucy. 

Lucy  put  her  head  pretty  close  to  the  hole, 
and  looked  very  intently. 

"  Can  you  see  him  ?  "  said  her  mother. 

"  I  don't  know,"  said  Lucy,  "  whether  I  can 
see  him  or  not." 

"  If  we  had  a  dark  closet  here,  where  we  could 
shut  you  up  a  few  minutes,  then  you  could  see 
better  down  in  the  hole,"  said  her  mother. 

"  Won't  it  do  for  me  to  shut  my  eyes  ? "  said 
Lucy. 

"  I  don't  know,"  replied  her  mother,  "  whether 
that  will  produce  the  effect,  or  not.  I  don't  know 
what  it  is  that  causes  the  eye  to  change,  —  whether 
t  is  the  mere  absence  of  light,  or  the  effort  we 
make  to  see  when  looking  in  the  dark.  If  it 
were  the  mere  absence  of  light,  then   it   would 


88      LUCY  AMONG  THE  MOUNTAINS. 

answer  for  you   to   shut   your   eyes.     You   can 
try  it." 

The  children  all  tried  the  plan.  They  shut 
their  eyes,  and  held  their  hands  over  them,  and  so 
kept  them  as  dark  as  they  could  for  some  minutes, 
and  then  looked  in.  They  thought  that  they 
could  see  better.  Robert  said  that  what  Eben 
saw  was  only  a  root,  and  that  he  did  not  believe 
that  there  was  any  squirrel  there. 

The  children,  therefore,  presently  came  back, 
and  took  their  seats  upon  the  log  again ;  and  Lu- 
cy asked  her  mother  to  go  on. 

"  I  think  it  likely  that  what  I  have  explained 
to  you  may  be  the  reason  why  a  fire  or  a  light 
does  not  appear  so  bright  by  day  as  it  does  by 
night.  The  eye  is  accustomed  to  the  glare,  and 
adapts  itself  to  a  strong  light,  and  so  becomes  in 
some  measure  insensible  to  a  comparatively  faint 
one. 

"  That  is  the  reason,  I  suppose,"  she  continued, 
"  why  we  can't  see  the  stars  in  the  daytime." 

"  Yes,  mother,"  said  Lucy ;  "  I  knew  there 
were  stars  in  the  daytime.     Miss  Anne  told  me." 

"  I  saw  a  star  one  morning,"  said  Robert. 

"  After  it  was  light  ?  "  asked  Lucy. 

"  Yes,"  replied  Robert ;  "  the  sun  was  almor 
up." 


PHILOSOPn.    .  89 

"  I  presume  it  was  the  morning  star,"  said  Lu 
cy's  mother. 

"  What  is  the  morning  star  ?  "  said  Lucy. 

« Why,  you  must  know,"  said  her  mother, 
"  that  there  is  one  planet  which  goes  round  and 
round  the  sun,  pretty  near  to  him  —  a  great  deal 
nearer  than  we  are." 

"  What  is  a  planet,  mother  ?  "  said  Lucy. 

"  Why,  it  is  a  kind  of  a  world,"  replied  her 
mother. 

"  As  big  as  this  world  ?  " 

'*  No ;  the  planet  which  I  was  speaking  ot  is 
not  quite  so  big  as  this  world,  I  believe ;  but  it  is 
very  large.  It  goes  round  and  round  the  sun ; 
and,  of  course,  when  the  sun  rises,  and  goes  over 
the  sky,  and  sets,  this  planet  keeps  with  him,  going 
round  and  round  him  all  the  time." 

Here  Lucy  turned  her  face  up  to  the  sky,  and 
began  to  look  for  the  sun.  She  put  her  arm  over 
her  eyes,  to  shade  them  from  the  dazzling  light. 

"  O,  you  can't  see  it  now,  Lucy,"  said  her 
mother. 

"  Why  not  ?  "  said  Lucy. 

"  Because,"  said  Robert,  "  the  sun  will  dazzle 
your  eyes." 

"  And  besides,"  said  her  mother,  "  the  general 
light  makes  your   eyes  less  sensitive   than   they 
8* 


90      LUCY  AMONG  THE  MOUNTAINS. 

ought  to  be  to  see  a  star.  We  never  see  this 
planet  by  day,  although  it  goes  with  the  sun, 
sometimes  a  little  before  him,  and  sometimes  a 
little  after  him,  but  never  a  great  way  off." 

"  What  makes  it  sometimes  before  him  and 
sometimes  after  him  ? "  asked  Lucy. 

"  Why,  that's  of  course,"  said  Robert. 

"  No,  not  exactly  of  course,"  said  her  mother. 
"  It  might  revolve  around  the  sun  in  such  a  way 
as  always  to  appear  to  be  at  the  same  distance. 
But,  as  it  happens,  it  does  not.  It  goes  round  in 
such  a  way  that  sometimes  it  appears  before  the 
sun,  and  sometimes  behind  it,  and  sometimes  it  is 
directly  between  us  and  the  sun.  It  passes  for- 
ward between  us  and  the  sun  until  it  gets  before 
him  ;  then  it  turns  and  wheels  away  around  on 
the  other  side,  and  goes  on  until  it  gets  behind  the 
sun.  Then  it  comes  round  on  this  side  again ; 
and  so  it  keeps  going  and  coming. 

"  But,  then,"  she  continued,  "  we  can  very  sel- 
dom see  it.  There  are  only  three  cases  in  which 
we  can  see  it.  One  is,  that  when  it  is  before  the 
sun,  we  can  see  it  in  the  morning  ;  because,  then, 
you  see,  it  rises  first,  and  so  we  can  see  it  before  it 
becomes  quite  light." 

"  But  Robert  said  it  was  very  light  when  he 
saw  it,"  said  Lucy. 


PHILOSOPHY.  91 

"  Yes,  it  was  much  lighter  than  it  had  been . 
but  it  was  not  as  light  as  it  is  at  noon." 

"  No,"  said  Robert ;  "  I  only  meant  it  was 
broad  daylight." 

"  It  was  much  lighter  than  it  was  in  the  night, 
I  have  no  doubt,"  said  Lucy's  mother ;  "  so 
light,  in  fact,  that  you  could  not  see  the  other 
stars.  But  this  looks  brighter  than  any  other 
stars." 

"  Why  ?  "  asked  Lucy. 

"  One  reason  is,"  replied  her  mother,  "  because 
it  is  nearer  to  us  ;  and  another  reason  is,  that  it  is 
very  near  the  sun,  and  so  is  strongly  illuminated 
by  his  rays." 

"  But  you  said  that  the  sun  was  not  up." 

"  No ;  but  still  he  was  where  he  could  shine 
on  Venus."  . 

"  Venus  ?  "  repeated  Lucy. 

"  Yes,"  replied  her  mother ;  "  that's  the  name 
of  it.  It  is  very  bright.  It  looks  like  a  little 
moon  when  you  look  at  it  through  a  telescope." 

"  Does  it  ?  "  said  Lucy.  "  How  big  does  it 
look  ? " 

"  That  depends  upon  the  power  of  the  tele- 
scope," replied  her  mother. 

"  I  mean  to  get  up  to-morrow  morning,  and  see 
it,"  said  Lucy. 


92      LUCY  AMONG  THE  MOUNTAINS. 

"  You  said  there  were  three  ways  to  see  it," 
said  Robert. 

"  Yes,  mother,"  said  Lucy ;  "  what  are  the 
other  two  ? " 

"  Why,  sometimes,"  replied  her  mother,  "  Ve- 
nus falls  behind  the  sun,  and  then  you  can't  see  it 
in  the  morning  ;  for  when  the  sun  rises,  Venus  is 
still  down  behind  the  horizon  ;  and  then  it  does 
not  come  up  until  after  the  sun.  Consequently, 
by  the  time  it  gets  up,  the  whole  sky  is  lighted 
up,  and  our  eyes  are  much  less  sensitive,  and  so 
we  can't  see  it. 

"  But  now,"  continued  she,  "  if  we  wait  till 
evening,  the  sun,  which  sets  first,  will  be  in  ad- 
vance of  Venus,  and  leave  her  a  little  way  up 
in  the  sky.  To  be  sure,  Venus  follows  directly 
on,  and  sets  in  a  short  time  ;  but  then  it  generally 
gets  dark  enough  before  she  sets  to  make  our  eyes 
sensitive  enough  to  see  her.  When  Venus  is  in 
that  part  of  her  path  which  makes  her  set  after 
the  sun,  so  that  we  can  see  her  in  the  evening, 
we  call  her  the  evening  star.  When  she  is 
before  the  sun,  so  as  to  be  seen  in  the  morning, 
she  is  called  the  morning  star.  So,  you  see, 
Lucy,  it  will  not  do  any  good  to  get  up  early  in 
the  morning  to  look  for  Venus,  unless  we  know 
whether   she   is   now  before  or  behind  the  sun. 


PHILOSOPHY.  93 

If  she  should  rise  later  than  the  sun,  we  could 
not  see  her." 

"  Now,  there's  one  more  way,"  said  Robert. 

"  Yes,  mother,"  said  Lucy  ;  "  what  is  that  r  " 

"  Sometimes  it  happens,"  said  her  mother, 
11  that,  while  Venus,  after  having  been  behind  the 
sun,  is  passing  round  this  side  of  it  to  go  be- 
fore it,  that  it  goes  exactly  between  us  and  the 
sun,  and  so  we  can  see  it  pass  across  his  face." 

"  How  does  it  look  ? "  said  Lucy. 

"  It  looks  like  a  little  black  spot,"  said  her 
mother — "a  little,  round,  black  spot,  moving 
across   the   face   of  the   sun." 

"  What  makes  it  look  so  black  ? "  said  Lucy. 

"  Why,  it  is  only  the  side  which  is  turned  to- 
wards the  sun  that  is  bright,  and  the  part  that  is 
turned  towards  us,  when  it  passes  between  us  and 
the  sun,  will,  of  course,  be  dark.  Besides,"  she 
continued,  "  I  suppose  that,  strictly  speaking,  we 
don't  really  see  Venus  in  that  case  at  all.  We 
are  only  prevented  from  seeing  a  part  of  the  sun. 
Venus  stops  all  the  rays  from  that  part  of  the  sun 
which  is  exactly  opposite  to  her,  from  coming  to 
us  ;  and  it  causes  the  appearance  of  a  small,  round, 
dark  spot,  moving  along  over  the  face  of  the  sun. 
That  is  called  a  transit  of  Venus.  But  a  transit 
of  Venus  happens  very  seldom." 


94      LUCY  AMONG  THE  MOUNTAINS. 

"  I  should  think  it  would  happen  every  time 
Venus  comes  round,"  said  Robert. 

"  So  should  I,"  said  Lucy. 

"  No,"  said  her  mother. 

"  Because,  you  see,"  said  Lucy,  "  that  she 
must  go  by  the  sun  every  time." 

"  Yes,"  said  her  mother ;  "  that  is  true.  But 
then  sometimes  she  goes  above  the  sun,  and  some- 
times below  it.  It  is  very  seldom  that  she  goes 
across,  exactly  opposite  to  him  ;  and  it  is  only 
then  that  there  is  a  transit." 

"  I  don't  understand,"  said  Robert,  "  how  you 
can  see  that  little  black  spot  on  the  sun,  when  it 
does  go  across.  I  should  think  the  light  of  the 
rest  of  the  sun  would  dazzle  your  eyes." 

"  Hark  !  what's  that  ?  "  said  Lucy. 

Lucy  listened,  as  if  she  heard  a  sound  at  a 
distance. 

"  That's  the  horn,"  said  Eben. 

"  Yes,"  said  Robert,  "  the  horn  for  dinner. 
We  must  go  home.  But  first  I'll  go  and  put  my 
fire  together  a  little." 

The  fire  had  by  this  time  nearly  gone  down. 
It  had  burned  out  the  whole  middle  of  the  pile, 
leaving  a  circle  of  brands,  ends  of  sticks,  and 
tops  of  bushes,  all  around.  Robert  pushed 
them  in  to  the  centre,  where  they  lay  upon  the 


PHILOSOPHY. 


95 


burning  embers,  and  soon  began  to  smoke  and 
blaze  again.  Then  he  followed  Lucy,  and  her 
mother,  and  Eben,  who  were  walking  slowly 
along.  When  he  came  up  to  them,  he  told  them 
that  he  knew  where  there  was  another  heap  of 
brush  to  burn,  and  he  wished  they  could  come  up 
in  the  evening,  and  set  it  on  fire,  when  they  could 
see  the  light  in  all  its  brightness.  This  they 
agreed  to  do.  Then  they  all  went  home  to  try 
the  apple-pudding. 


96 


CHAPTER   VII. 

THE   SLAB. 

About  an  hour  after  dinner,  Lucy  and  Eben 
went  into  a  shed  not  far  from  the  barn,  where 
there  was  a  wagon  ;  and  Eben  proposed  that 
they  should  get  into  it,  and  play  have  a  ride 

"  How  can  we  get  in  ? "  said  Lucy. 

"  O,  we  can  climb  in,"  replied  Eben. 

Lucy  thought  that  she  could  not  climb  up  into 
such  a  high  wagon  ;  but  Eben  said  that  it  was 
very  easy.  So  he  went  around  to  the  front  part, 
and  clambered  in.  Lucy  then  concluded  to  try, 
and  she  found  that  she  succeeded  better  than  she 
had  expected.  She  sat  down  upon  the  seat  of 
the  wagon. 

"  What  a  good  seat !  "  said  Lucy.  "  This  is 
better  than  a  chaise  ;  for  a  chaise  tips  down." 

"  Tips  down  ?  "  said  Eben. 

"  Yes,"  replied  Lucy,  "  when  there  is  no  horse, 
in  it." 

"  What  makes  it  tip  down  ? "  said  Eben. 

u  I  don't  know,"  said  Lucy ;  "  but  it  does,  and 


THE    SLAB.  97 

1  can  hardly  keep  in  the  seat.  But  your  wagon 
does  not  tip  down  at  all." 

Just  then  they  heard  somebody  coming.  They 
looked  round,  and  saw  that  it  was  Robert. 

"Come,  boys  and  girls,"  said  Robert,  "jump 
out  of  the  wagon." 

"  Why  can't  you  let  us  ride  ?  "  said  Eben. 

"  Because,"  said  Robert,  "  I  am  going  to  put 
the  horse  in." 

"  Are  you  going  away  ?  "  said  Eben. 

"  No,  but  Comfort  is." 

"  Where  is  she  going  ?  "  asked  Lucy. 

"I  don't,  know,"  replied  Robert;  and  just 
as  he  said  so,  he  opened  a  door  which  led 
out  of  the  shed  into  the  barn,  and  disappeared. 
In  a  few  minutes  he  returned,  leading  out  a 
horse. 

He  tied  the  horse  to  a  ring,  which  was  fastened 
into  a  beam  about  as  high  as  his  head,  and  then 
went  into  the  harness-room  after  a  harness. 

While  he  was  putting  the  harness  upon  the 
horse,  Lucy  and  Eben  continued  their  ride ;  and 
presently  he  told  them  that  they  might  stay,  in 
the  wagon,  and  he  would  give  them  a  real  ride  as 
far  as  the  door.  Accordingly,  when  the  horse 
was  harnessed,  he  backed  the  wagon  out  of  the 
shed,  while  Lucy  and  Eben  sat  in  it ;  and  then 
9 


98       LUCY  AMONG  THE  MOUNTAINS. 

lie  led  the  horse  up  to  the  door,  Lucy  holding  the 
reins,  and  making  believe  drive. 

Robert  fastened  the  horse  to  a  post,  and  Lucy 
and  Eben,  thinking  that  they  would  not  get  out 
until  they  were  obliged  to,  sat  still.  Presently 
Comfort  came  to  the  door  in  a  different  dress 
from  the  one  which  she  had  worn  when  she  was 
spinning,  and  with  her  bonnet  on. 

"  Comfort,"  said  Lucy,  "  are  you  going  away 
in  this  wagon  ?  " 

"  Yes,"  replied  Comfort. 

"  Who  is  going  to  drive  you  ? "  asked  Lucy. 

"  I  am  going  to  drive  myself,"  replied  Com- 
fort. 

"  Where  are  you  going  ?  "  said  Lucy. 

"  I'm  going  a-shopping,"  said  Comfort. 

"  A-shopping  ?  "  said  Lucy  ;  "  I  don't  see 
where  you  can  go  a-shopping.  Only  I  wish," 
she  added,  after  pausing  a  moment,  "  that  my 
mother  would  let  me  go  with  you." 

"  Well,"  said  Comfort,  "  go  and  ask  her." 

Comfort  helped  Lucy  down  out  of  the  wagon, 
and  she  ran  in  to  ask  her  mother.  As  she  went 
in,  Comfort  said,  — > 

"  Tell  her  that  I  should  like  to  have  you  go 
very  much." 

Lucy   came   back  in  a  moment,  leading   her 


THE    SLAB.  99 

mother,  who  came  out  to  see  whether  it  was 
really  true  that  Comfort  was  perfectly  willing  to 
have  Lucy  go.  When  she  found  that  she  was 
willing,  her  mother  consented.  At  first  Eben 
wanted  to  go,  too  ;  but  Robert  persuaded  him  to 
go  with  him.  He  was  going  off  into  the  field 
with  a  cart,  and  he  said,  if  Eben  would  go  with 
him,  he  would  let  him  ride  in  the  cart.  Eben,  on 
the  whole,  concluded  that  he  would  ride  in  the 
cart ;  and  so  he  got  out  of  the  wagon,  and  went 
away ;  and  in  a  moment  after,  Comfort  and  Lucy 
went  riding  out  of  the  yard  together. 

Comfort  turned  the  horse  in  the  opposite  direc- 
tion to  the  one  from  which  Lucy  had  come  with 
her  father  and  mother  when  they  first  came  to 
the  General's.  Lucy  was  glad  of  this,  for  she 
wanted  to  go  in  a  new  road.  After  riding  a 
jhort  distance  along  a  smooth  and  level  road, 
they  began  to  descend  a  hill  which  seemed  to 
be  carrying  them  down  into  a  dark  and  shady 
valley. 

The  high  mountains  were  all  around  them ; 
and  now  and  then  Lucy  had  a  view  of  water 
down  the  valley  far  before  them.  Lucy  thought, 
too,  that  she  could  hear  the  noise  of  water  tum- 
bling over  rocks  down  in  a  deep  and  dark  ravine, 
filled  with  forests,  on  the  side  of  the  road. 


100     LUCY  AMONG  THE  MOUNTAINS. 

"  How  far  is  the  place  where  you  are  going  it- 
shopping  from  your  father's  ?  "  said  Lucy. 

"  It  is  about  half  a  mile,"  replied  Comfort. 

"  O,  what  a  short  ride !  "  said  Lucy.  "  I'm 
sorry  it  isn't  farther." 

"  O,  it's  farther  from  here,"  said  Comfort.  "  It 
is  almost  two  miles  from  the  General's." 

"  But  I  thought  the  General's  was  your  fa- 
ther's," said  Lucy. 

"  No,"  replied  Comfort ;  "  my  father  lives  down 
in  the  valley,  about  half  a  mile  from  the  corner." 

"  Then  why  don't  you  stay  there  ? "  said  Lu- 
cy. "  I  should  think  you  would  stay  at  home, 
and  not  come  and  live  at  the  General's." 

"  O,  I  come  to  the  General's  to  spin,"  replied 
Comfort. 

"  I  don't  see  why  you  come  to  spin  for  him." 

"  Why,  he  pays  me  for  it,"  said  Comfort. 

"  O,"  said  Lucy,  "  then  I  suppose  you  spin  to 
get  the  money." 

"  Yes,"  replied  Comfort ;  "  that  is  it." 

"  Is  your  father  very  poor,  then  ? "  said  Lucy. 

"  No,  he  is  not  poor  at  all.  My  father  has  got 
a  good  farm,  and  is  quite  forehanded." 

"  Forehanded  ?  "  repeated  Lucy. 

"  Yes,"  replied  Comfort. 

Lucy  did  not  understand  what  Comfort  meant 


THE    SLAB.  101 

by  forehanded;  nor  did  she  see  why  Comfort 
should  go  away  from  home,  to  live  at  the  Gener- 
al's, to  get  money,  unless  her  father  was  poor. 
However,  she  was  prevented  from  asking  her  any 
more  questions  by  something  which  here  happened 
to  attract  her  attention. 

For  just  at  this  time  the  road  descended  near 
to  the  stream  which  Lucy  had  heard  in  the  bot- 
tom of  the  ravine  ;  and  there  was  a  large  opening 
through  the  trees,  so  that  she  could  see  down  to 
the  water.  It  was  foaming  and  tumblinsr  like  a 
cataract,  along  a  very  rocky  bed.  The  stream 
was  pretty  broad,  and  there  were  several  rocks 
and  rocky  islands  scattered  about  its  bed.  On 
one  of  these  islands,  at  a  little  distance  from  the 
shore,  they  saw  a  little  boy  sitting  alone ;  and  he 
seemed  to  be  crying. 

"  Only  look  at  that  boy,"  said  Comfort.  "  I 
wonder  how  he  came  there." 

So  saying,  Comfort  drew  up  the  reins,  and 
stopped  the  horse,  in  the  middle  of  the  road. 
The  boy  looked  up  and  saw  them. 

"  What's  the  matter,  my  boy?"  said  Comfort, 
in  a  loud  voice. 

The  boy  answered  something,  but  the  roar  of 
the  water  was  so  loud  that  they  could  not  hear 
what  he  said. 

9* 


102     LUCY  AMONG  THE  MOUNTAINS. 

"  Let's  go  down  and  see  what's  the  matter," 
said  Comfort. 

"  Well,"  said  Lucy,  "  so  we  will." 

Comfort  got  out  of  the  wagon,  and  then  she 
helped  Lucy  get  out.  She  led  the  horse  to  one 
side  of  the  road,  and  fastened  him.  Then  she  be- 
gan carefully  to  descend  the  bank,  helping  Lucy 
down,  too.  At  length  they  got  down  to  the  shore, 
opposite  to  where  the  boy  was.  He  was  on  the 
end  of  a  little  rocky  island,  or  rather  of  a  large 
rock,  which  was  out  a  few  steps  from  the  shore. 
There  were  scattered  rocks  about  it,  and  between 
it  and  the  shore. 

"  What's  the  matter,  my  boy  ? "  said  Com 
fort. 

"  I  can't  get  off  the  rocks,"  said  the  boy. 

The  boy  did  not  take  any  further  notice  of 
Comfort  and  Lucy,  than  just  to  answer  Comfort's 
question,  but  sat  still,  and  continued  to  cry,  just 
as  before. 

"  How  did  you  get  on  the  rocks  ? "  said 
Comfort. 

"  I  don't  know,"  said  the  boy ;  "  I  have  forgot 
the  place." 

"  Why,  that's  very  strange,"  said  Comfort, 
—  "such  a  little  boy  as  this,  out  on  these  rocks, 
and  saying  he  don't  know  how  he  came  there." 


THE    SLAB.  103 

"  He  isn't  bigger  than  Eben,"  said  Lucy. 
The  water  was  very  shallow  in  the  stream, 
and  there  were  stones  between  where  the  boy 
was,  and  the  shore,  almost  near  enough  for  step- 
ping-stones. Comfort  looked  at  them  a  moment, 
and  then  she  said,  — 

"  Can't  you  step  over  on  these  stones  ?  " 
"  No,"  said  the  boy,  "  not  unless  they   come 
and  help  me." 

"  Who  come  and  help  you  ? " 
"  Why,  Roger  and  the  other  boy." 
"Who  is  Roger?"  said  Comfort,  "and  where 
is  he  ? " 

"  I  don't  know  where  he  is,"  said  the  boy. 
"  He  does  not  know  any  thing,"  said  Comfort 
to  Lucy,  in  an  under  tone.  In  fact,  Comfort  was 
almost  out  of  patience  with  the  boy,  because  he 
could  not  give  any  better  account  of  himself; 
though  she  ought  not  to  have  been  out  of  pa- 
tience with  him,  for  he  was  very  small,  and  then 
he  was  very  much  frightened,  both  at  his  situation 
and  on  account  of  the  strangers. 

"  Do  you  suppose,  Lucy,  that  I  could  get  over 
on  those  stones,  and  help  him  off? " 
"  Why,  yes,"  said  Lucy,  "  perhaps  so." 
"  I'm  afraid'  I  shall  fall  into  the  water,"  said 


104     LUCY  AMONG  THE  MOUNTAINS. 

Comfort.  "  Now,  if  I  only  had  a  slab."  So  say- 
ing, Comfort  began  to  look  around  on  the  shore. 

"  A  slab  ?  "  said  Lucy  ;  "  what  is  a  slab  ?  " 

Lucy  had,  in  fact,  never  heard  of  a  slab.  Com- 
fort did  not  answer  her,  for  she  went  immediately 
away,  and  began  to  look  about  for  a  slab,  Lucy 
remaining  near  the  boy. 

A  slab  is  the  outside  piece,  which  is  sawed  off 
first,  when  they  saw  up  a  log  into  boards.  Of 
course,  it  is  round  on  one  side,  and  flat  on  the 
other.  Sometimes,  too,  it  is  very  irregular  in 
shape,  on  account  of  the  logs  not  being  regular  in 
form.  Slabs  generally  lie  in  considerable  num- 
bers about  mills,  because  they  are  not  of  much 
value ;  and  then,  when  the  freshets  come,  they 
get  washed  away,  and  carried  down  the  stream. 
Many  of  them  lodge  along  the  banks,  where  they 
get  stopped  by  the  trees,  or  wedged  in  among  the 
rocks ;  so  that  they  are  often  found  lying  along 
the  shores  of  such  a  stream  as  this  was. 

By  this  time,  the  boy  had  stopped  crying ;  and 
he  took  up  a  slender  little  pole,  which  was  lying 
by  his  side,  and  laid  it  across  his  lap.  Lucy 
looked  at  him  a  moment  in  silence. 

"  What  is  your  name,  little  boy  ?  "  said  Lucy 

"  George,"  said  the  boy. 


THE    SLAB.  105 

"  Well,  don't  be  afraid,"  said  Lucy.  "  Com- 
fort has  gone  to  get  a  slab." 

George  did  not  answer,  but  he  seemed  now  to 
be  getting  quite  composed. 

"  What  is  that  pole  for  ? "  said  Lucy,  again. 

"  This  is  my  fishing-pole,"  said  the  boy. 

"  Did  you  come  a-fishing  ? "  said  Lucy. 

"  Yes,"  replied  the  boy ;  "  and  we  caught 
four." 

Just  at  this  moment,  Lucy  heard  Comfort  call- 
ing out  that  she  had  found  a  slab.  Lucy  looked 
in  the  direction  from  which  the  voice  came,  and 
she  saw  Comfort  beyond  a  rocky  point,  a  short 
distance  up  the  stream. 

"  I've  found  a  slab,"  said  Comfort ;  "  but  it  is 
too  heavy  for  me  to  bring  along,  and  so  I'm  going 
to  sail  it  down." 

Lucy  could  see  that  Comfort  was  stooping 
down,  as  if  she  was  pushing  something  off  the 
shore.  At  the  same  instant,  she  heard  other 
voices  in  the  opposite  direction.  She  looked 
down  the  stream,  and  saw  two  boys  coming  up 
along  the  bank,  half  hid  by  the  bushes  and  rocks, 
with  fishing-poles  in  their  hands.  They  were 
talking  together,  and  did  not  see  Lucy  until  they 
got  out  of  the  bushes,  and  had  advanced  pretty 
near  to  her.     At  the  same  time,  Comfort  came 


106     LUCY  AMONG  THE  MOUNTAINS. 

down  from  above,  guiding  her  slab  along  by  a 
little  slender  pole. 

"  O  boys !  "  said  Comfort,  when  she  saw  them, 
"  is  this  little  fellow  your  brother  ?  " 

"  Yes,"  said  one  of  the  boys,  "  he  is  my 
brother." 

"  We  couldn't  think  how  he  came  here,"  said 
Comfort. 

"  Why,  we  were  fishing,"  said  the  boy,  "  and 
we  wanted  to  go  down  and  just  try  a  new  place ; 
and  we  told  him  we'd  come  back  for  him  in  a 
few  minutes,  if  we  found  a  good  place." 

"  O,"  said  Comfort,  "  I  was  just  getting  this 
slab,  to  help  him  off." 

"  What  did  you  want  the  slab  for  ? "  said 
the  boy. 

"So  as  to  get  over  where  he  is,"  said  Comfort. 

"  O,  there's  no  need  of  any  slab,"  said  the 
boy.  And  so,  without  saying  any  thing  more, 
he  stepped  across  from  one  stone  to  another,  as 
easily  as  if  he  had  walked  along  the  shore.  The 
other  boy  followed  him,  and  one  of  them  helped 
George  to  the  shore,  and  the  other  took  up  a 
small  string  of  fishes,  which  was  lying  in  a  crevice 
of  the  rocks,  where  Lucy  had  not  seen  them. 

"  You've  caught  some  fishes,  then,"  said  Com- 
fort. 


THE    SLAB.  107 

"  Yes,"  said  the  boy ;  "  but  they  don't  bite 
very  well." 

"  I  hope  they'll  bite  better  down  below,"  said 
Comfort ;  "  and  I  wouldn't  leave  that  little  fellow 
alone  again  ;  it  frightens  him." 

"  Well,  we  won't,"  said  Roger. 

So  saying,  the  boys  all  walked  along  together 
down  the  bank,  and  soon  disappeared 

"  I  think  he  ought  to  be  ashamed  of  himself," 
said  Lucy.  "  I  would  have  given  him  a  good 
scolding." 

"  That  wouldn't  have  done  any  good,"  replied 
Comfort. 

"  Yes  it  would,"  said  Lucy.  "  It  would  have 
taught  him  not  to  do  so  next  time." 

"  No,"  said  Comfort ;  "  that  would  only  have 
made  him  more  likely  to  do  so  again." 

"  Let's  make  a  bridge  with  your  slab,"  said 
Lucy,  "  and  get  out  on  that  rock." 

"  No,"  said  Comfort ;  "  we  might  get  in,  and 
get  our  feet  wet." 

"  Why,  Comfort !  "  said  Lucy  ;  "  I  don't  see  that 
there  is  any  more  danger  of  getting  in  now,  than 
if  the  boy  was  on  the  rock,  and  you  were  going 
out  to  get  the  boy." 

"  Yes,"  said  Comfort ;  "  but  that  was  an  object 
worth  running  a  little  risk  for.     There's  no  use 


10S     LUCY  AMONG  THE  MOUNTAINS. 

in  running  the  risk  for  nothing ;  so,  instead  of 
making  a  bridge  of  the  slab,  we'll  make  a  ship 
of  it." 

As  she  said  this,  she  pushed  one  end  of  the 
slab  outwards,  to  make  it  point  out  into  the  stream. 
It  turned  slowly,  and,  when  it  was  pointed  in  the 
right  direction,  she  gave  it  a  long  push,  by  which 
it  was  sent,  by  a  slow  but  steady  motion,  away 
out  into  the  current.  The  current  immediately 
turned  it  down  the  stream.  It  went  swiftly  along 
the  rapids,  until  presently  the  end  struck  against 
a  small  rock,  which  happened  to  be  in  its  course, 
projecting  a  little  above  the  surface  of  the  water. 
This  stopped  the  force  of  the  motion  immediately, 
and  the  upper  end  of  the  slab  began  to  move 
slowly  round,  and  to  drift  sideways  down  the 
stream.  They  watched  it  a  few  minutes,  and 
then  they  climbed  up  the  steep,  grassy,  and  rocky 
bank,  unfastened  the  horse,  got  into  the  wagon, 
and  rode  on 


109 

CHAPTER    VIII. 

SHOPPING. 

At  the  place  where  Comfort  and  Lucy  had 
found  George  on  the  island,  the  stream  looked 
like  a  brook,  only  it  was  very  large  for  a  brook. 
It  ran  tumbling  along  among  rocks  just  like  a 
brook.  Lucy  found,  however,  after  they  had 
rode  along  a  little  farther,  that  it  began  to  change ; 
and  in  a  short  time  it  appeared  to  turn  into  a 
smooth  and  beautiful  river.  This  was  the  sheet 
of  water  which  Lucy  had  had  an*  occasional 
glimpse  of,  higher  up  the  valley.  But  now,  at  a 
certain  turn  of  the  road,  they  came  suddenly  upon 
a  full  view  of  it. 

"  O,  what  a  beautiful  river !  "  said  Lucy. 

"  That's  the  mill-pond,"  said  Comfort. 

"  The  mill-pond  ?  "  repeated  Lucy. 

"  Yes,"  replied  Comfort. 

"  How  did  they  make  such  a  mill-pond  ? " 
asked  Lucy. 

"  Why,  they  built  a  dam  across  the  stream., 
10 


110     LUCY  AMONG  THE  MOUNTAINS. 

down  below  here,  and  that  stops  the  water,  and 
makes  a  pond." 

"  That's  an  excellent  plan,"  said  Lucy.  "  I 
think  it  looks  a  great  deal  prettier." 

"  O,  but  they  didn't  do  it  to  make  it  look  pret- 
tier," said  Comfort. 

"  What  did  they  do  it  for  ? "  asked  Lucy. 

"  Why,  to  make  the  mills  go.  They  almost 
always  have  a  pond  to  make  mills  go." 

"  1  don't  see  how  a  pond  can  make  mills  go," 
said  Lucy. 

"  Why,  the  dam  makes  the  water  rise  very 
high,"  said  Comfort ;  "  and  then  they  build  a 
mill  on  the  bank  just  below  the  dam,  and  have 
a  great  wheel  down  in  the  bottom  of  the  mill, 
and  they  let  the  water  out  of  the  pond  against  the 
wheel,  and  that  carries  it  round  so  as  to  make  the 
mill  go." 

"  Do  they  have  a  hole  in  the  dam  right  oppo- 
site to  the  wheel  ?  "  asked  Lucy. 

"  Yes,  they  have  an  opening,"  replied  Comfort, 
"  and  a  kind  of  a  long  box,  to  lead  the  water 
from  the  opening  in  the  dam  to  the  wheel.  That 
is  what  they  call  the  flume.  I'll  show  you  the 
flume  when  we  get  to  the  mill." 

"  Are  we  going  to  the  mill  ?  "  asked  Lucy. 


SHOPPING.  Ill 

"  Yes,  we  shall  go  over  the  bridge  close  to  the 
mill.  The  flume  passes  under  one  end  of  the 
bridge." 

Comfort  and  Lucy  were  now  riding  along  a 
beautiful  road.  The  mill-pond  was  on  one  side, 
with  several  islands  in  the  middle,  and  with  many 
points  and  promontories  extending  into  the  water 
from  the  shore,  and  crowned  with  trees.  On  the 
other  side  was  a  great  forest,  covering  the  side  of 
a  hill,  and  running  higher  and  higher  to  the  tops 
of  the  mountains.  On  before  them  Lucy  could 
see  a  bridge,  and  a  small  village  on  the  other 
side  of  it.  In  about  ten  minutes,  they  reached 
the  bridge. 

Lucy  could  see  the  dam  very  distinctly.  It 
was  built  of  logs  laid  up  like  a  wall,  and  extend- 
ing entirely  across  the  stream,  from  one  side  to 
the  other.  A  thin  sheet  of  water  was  gliding 
smoothly  over  the  top,  and  falling  upon  the  rocks 
below. 

"  Why  don't  they  build  the  dam  a  little  higher," 
said  Lucy,  "  and  so  stop  all  the  water? " 

"That  wouldn't  do  any  good,"  said  Com- 
fort. 

"  Yes,"  said  Lucy ;  "  then  they  would  have 
more  water  to  make  their  mills  go." 

"  But  they've  got  water  enough,"  said  Com- 


J 12     LUCY  AMONG  THE  MOUNTAINS. 

fort ;  "and,  besides,  if  they  should  make  the  dam 
higher,  they  could  not  keep  the  water  from  run- 
ning over  the  top ;  because,  if  they  should  do  it. 
it  would  only  slop  the  water  in  the  pond  for  a 
little  while ;  it  would  rise  higher  and  higher,  and 
so,  pretty  soon,  it  would  run  over  the  top  again, 
just  as  it  does  now." 

The  mill  was  on  the  farther  side  of  the  bridge, 
and  below  it,  while  the  dam  was  above.  Lucy 
asked  where  the  flume  was.  Comfort  pointed 
out  to  her  a  sort  of  a  large  box  or  trough,  made 
of  timbers  and  planks,  which  proceeded  from  the 
end  of  the  darn  on  the  other  side,  and  passed  un- 
der the  bridge  to  the  mill. 

When  they  got  opposite  to  the  flume,  Comfort 
stopped  the  horse  a  moment  to  let  Lucy  look 
at  it.  There  was  a  kind  of  a  grating  at  one  end 
of  it,  towards  the  mill,  and  the  water  was  whirling 
and  boiling,  among  the  sticks  and  slabs  which 
were  lying  before  the  grating.  Lucy  saw  that 
the  water  was  running  down  through  the  grating, 
in  underneath  the  mill,  and  she  supposed  it  ran 
under  the  water-wheel,  and  turned  it  round. 

"  What  makes  them  throw  all  those  sticks  and 
slabs  into  the  flume  ?  "  said  Lucy. 

"  They  don't  throw  them  in,"  said  Comfort. 
"  Those  things  were  brought  down  by  the  stream, 


SHOPPING.  113 

and  came  floating  along  into  the  flume,  and  the 
grating  stopped  them.  That  is  the  reason  why 
they  have  a  grating,  —  in  order  to  stop  all  such 
things." 

"  Why  must  they  stop  them  ?  "  said  Lucy. 

"  Because,"  replied  Comfort,  "  they  would  go 
through,  and  strike  against  the  water-wheel,  1  sup- 
pose, and  break  it." 

After  Lucy  had  looked  at  the  flume  long 
enough,  Comfort  drove  on.  The  horse  ascended 
a  little  hill,  beyond  the  brook,  and  came  into  a 
sort  of  village,  though  it  was  very  small.  It  con- 
sisted of  only  a  very  few  houses  and  shops. 

"  Where  are  you  going  to  do  your  shopping  ?  " 
asked  Lucy. 

"  I'm  going  to  that  store,"  said  Comfort. 

So  saying,  she  pointed  to  a  building  in  a  corner, 
not  far  from  the  mill,  which  was  painted  green. 
It  had  a  sign  over  the  door,  and  some  shawls 
han<nn£  in  the  window. 

"  I  shouldn't  think  there  was  much  to  buy  in 
that  store,"  aid  Lucy. 

"  O,  yes,"  said  Comfort ;  "  it  is  quite  a  large 
store." 

There  were  several  posts  before  the  store. 
Comfort  drove  up  to  one  of  them,  and  got  out 
10* 


114     LUCY  AMONG  THE  MOUNTAINS. 

and  fastened  the  horse.  Then  she  helped  Lucy 
out,  and  they  both  together  went  into  the  store. 

It  was  a  much  larger  and  pleasanter  store  than 
Lucy  had  expected.  There  were  two  pretty 
large  counters.  One  was  at  the  back  side  of  the 
store.  There  were  a  great  many  goods,  of  all 
kinds,  upon  the  shelves.  At  the  back  corner  of 
the  store  there  was  a  door,  which  seemed  to  open 
out  into  a  pleasant  yard.  There  were  one  or 
two  chairs  near  this  door.  Comfort  conducted 
Lucy  along  to  this  corner,  and  gave  her  a  seat  in 
one  of  the  chairs. 

"  Now,  Lucy,"  said  she,  "  I  expect  it  will  take 
me  ever  so  long  to  do  my  shopping  ;  and  you  may 
amuse  yourself  here  as  well  as  you  can.  You 
can  look  about  the  store,  or  sit  here,  or  go  out  in 
the  yard." 

"  Well,"  said  Lucy,  "  I  shall  do  very  well,  I 
don't  doubt." 

Comfort  then  went  away,  and  presently  came 
back  with  a  piece  of  gingerbread,  which  she  had 
bought  of  the  storekeeper,  and  gave  it  to  Lucy. 
Lucy  was  glad,  both  because  she  liked  ginger- 
bread, and  also  because  she  was  a  little  hungry. 
After  she  had  begun  to  eat  her  gingerbread,  she 
thought  she  heard  a  peeping  sound  out  in  the 


SHOPPING.  115 

yard.  Lucy  stepped  out  upon  the  step  to  see 
what  it  was.  She  found  there,  in  one  corner  of 
the  yard,  a  hen  and  a  whole  brood  of  chickens. 

The  hen  looked  rather  fiercely  at  Lucy  when 
she  saw  that  she  was  coming  near  her  chickens, 
and  so  Lucy  kept  back  a  little.  She  observed, 
however,  that  the  hen  had  a  little  leather  strap 
around  one  of  her  legs,  and  by  means  of  that  and 
a  string,  she  was  tied  to  a  stake.  There  was  a 
small  cask  lying  down  upon  its  side,  for  her  to  go 
into,  with  her  chickens. 

Lucy  broke  off  a  small  piece  of  her  ginger- 
bread, and  threw  it  down  to  the  hen.  The  hen 
seized  it  very  eagerly,  and  broke  it  into  crumbs 
with  her  bill,  and  called  her  chickens  to  come 
and  eat  it.  They  all  gathered  around  her,  and 
picked  up  the  little  crumbs  as  fast  as  they  could. 
Lucy  thought  that  they  ate  it  as  if  they  never 
had  had  any  gingerbread  before. 

Lucy  looked  about  the  yard.  It  was  a  very 
pleasant  yard,  descending  a  little  from  the  street. 
There  was  a  fence  around  it  painted  white ;  but 
as  the  fence  was  not  very  high,  and  as  the  land 
descended  somewhat  towards  it,  Lucy  could  see 
over  it.  She  could  see  the^dam,  and  the  bridge, 
and  the  mill-pond,  extending  far  away  among  the 
islands  and  banks  covered  with  trees.     She  could 


116     LUCY  AMONG  THE  MOUNTAINS. 

also  look  right  down  the  bank  opposite  to  where 
she  stood  upon  that  part  of  the  stream  which  was 
below  the  mill. 

She  watched  the  water  gliding  over  the  top  of 
the  dam,  and  falling  down  in  a  shower  upon  the 
rocks  below,  for  a  few  minutes,  when  she  heard  a 
door  open  behind  her.  She  looked  round,  and 
found  that  there  was  another  door,  besides  the 
one  which  she  had  come  out  of,  in  the  same 
building.  There  were  also  some  windows.  In 
fact,  it  seemed  as  if  the  back  part  of  the  building 
was  a  house,  and  only  the  front  part  a  store. 

At  any  rate,  the  door  opened,  and  a  girl,  about 
as  big  as  Lucy,  came  out  with  a  saucer  in  her 
hand,  and  a  spoon  in  it.  Lucy  saw  at  once  that 
she  had  come  out  to  feed  the  chickens.  Lucy 
went  towards  her,  to  see  her ;  for  before  she  had 
gone  to  the  front  part  of  the  yard  to  see  the 
prospect. 

tf  Are  these  your  chickens  ? "  said  Lucy. 

"  Yes,"  said  the  girl. 

"  They're  beautiful  chickens,"  said  Lucy. 

"  Yes,"  said  the  girl,  "  only  they  came  too 
late." 

While  Lucy  was  considering  what  the  girl 
could  mean,  by  saying  that  her  chickens  came  too 
late,  the  girl  went  on  feeding  them  ;  and  after  she 


SHOPPING.  117 

had  done,  she  looked  down  to  the  stream  which 
ran  off  below  the  mill,  and  said,  — 

"  Ah  !  they've  shut  the  gate." 

■?  What  gate  ?  "  said  Lucy,  looking ;  "  I  don't 
see  any  gate." 

"  The  water-gate,  I  mean,"  said  the  girl ; 
—  "  the  gate  that  lets  the  water  under  the  mill." 

"How  do  you  know  that  they've  shut  it?" 
said  Lucy. 

"  Because,"  replied  the  girl,  "  don't  you  see 
that  the  water  doesn't  run  under  the  mill? 
When  the  gate  is  up,  and  they  are  grinding,  the 
water  comes  tumbling  through,  under  the  mill,  in 
a  great  stream." 

Lucy  looked,  and  saw  that  there  was  a  channel 
behind  the  mill,  beginning  under  it,  which  passed 
down  a  little  way,  and  gradually  turned,  and  at 
length,  at  a  short  distance,  came  out  into  the 
main  stream.  The  bottom  was  rocky,  and  now 
nearly  bare,  only  there  was  a  small  stream,  which 
lan  among  the  rocks,  flowing  out  towards  the  main 
current.  There  is  generally  such  a  channel  below 
a  mill,  by  which  the  waste  water  is  discharged, 
after  it  has  performed  its  duty  of  giving  impulse, 
in  its  descent,  to  the  float-boards  of  the  great 
wheel. 

At  the  place  where  this  channel  entered  the 


118  LUCY    AMONG    THE    MOUNTAINS. 

main  stream,  Lucy  observed  a  large,  flat  surface 
of  rock,  of  a  blue  color,  which  seemed  to  be  quite 
level  and  smooth.  There  was  a  bird  upon  it, 
hopping  about.  The  main  current  was  running 
very  swiftly  along  that  end  of  it  which  was  to- 
wards the  stream,  and  there  was  a  little  water,  too, 
on  each  side  of  it ;  so  that  it  was  a  sort  of  an 
island. 

"  I  wish  I  could  go  down  on  that  great  blue 
stone,"  said  Lucy. 

"  It  is  very  easy  to  get  there/'  said  the  girl. 
w  I've  been  on  it  a  hundred  times." 

"  I  mean  to  go  and  ask  Comfort  to  let  me  go 
down  and  get  on  it,"  said  Lucy. 

So  Lucy  went  into  the  store,  but  in  a  moment 
came  out  again.  The  girl  asked  what  Comfort 
said. 

"  She  says  I  must  not  go  now,"  said  Lucy, 
"  but  that,  when  she  has  done  her  shopping,  she 
will  go  with  me." 

"  Is  that  the  mill-pond  up  there  ?  "  said  Lucy, 
pointing  to  the  sheet  of  water  above  the  dam. 

"  Yes,"  said  the  girl. 
►"  What  a  pretty  little  island !  "  said  Lucy. 

While  Lucy  was  looking  at  the  island,  she 
happened  to  observe  something  upon  the  water, 
very  far  off,  ant  she  did  not  know  what  it  was. 


SHOPPING.  119 

It  looked  like  a  little  black  line  arawn  upon  the 
water. 

"  What  is  that  ?  "  said  Lucy,  pointing  to  it. 

"  What  ?  "  said  the  girl ;  "  I  don't  see  any 
thing." 

"  That  little  black  thing,  very  straight,  in  the 
water,  close  by  the  island,  where  that  great  tree  is." 

"  O,  I  don't  know,"  said  the  girl ;  "  nothing  but 
a  slab,  or  something  floating  down." 

Lucy  looked  at  it  very  intently,  and  said,-— 

"  I  verily  believe  it  is  our  slab  ! " 

Lucy  ran  into  the  store  to  tell  Comfort.  Com- 
fort was  standing  before  the  counter,  looking  at 
some  calico.  The  counter  was  covered  with 
calicoes. 

"  Comfort,"  said  Lucy. 

"  That,  you  say,  is  one  and  ninepence,"  said 
Comfort,  speaking  to  the  storekeeper. 

"  Comfort,"  said  Lucy,  putting  her  hand  gently 
on  Comfort's  arm.  "  Here's  our  slab  floating 
down." 

"  And  nine  yards,  at  one  and  ninepence,- 
comes  to  how  much  ?  —  let  me  see  —  " 

"  Comfort,"  said  Lucy. 

"  Let  me  see ;  nine  shillings  and  nine  nme- 
pences  is  —  wait  a  minute,  Lucy." 

Lucy  stood   still.     The  storekeeper  drew  out 


120  LUCY    AMONG    THE    MOUNTAINS. 

a  little  slate  from  under  the  counter,  and  began 
making  figures  upon  it.  Lucy  saw  that  Comfort 
looked  perplexed,  and  was  very  busy  ;  so  she 
left  her,  and  ran  out  into  the  yard  again,  to  watch 
the  slab. 

Lucy  thought  that  the  slab  had  not  moved  at 
all,  while  she  had  been  gone.  It  seemed  to  be 
in  exactly  the  place  where  it  was  before.  In  fact, 
it  did  not  move  very  fast,  because  the  water  in 
the  mill-pond  was  almost  still.  It  was,  however, 
slowly  descending  towards  the  dam. 

«  Why  don't  it  come  faster  ?  "  said  Lucy. 

"  Why,  the  water  does  not  run  very  fast  in  the 
mill-pond,"  replied  the  girl ;  "  we  can  sail  all  over 
it  in  a  boat ;  so  that  the  logs  and  slabs  come  down 
slowly." 

"  Where  will  it  go  to  ?  "  asked  Lucy. 

"  O,  it  will  come  down  over  the  dam  ;  or  else 
it  will  run  into  the  flume,  and  get  stopped  by  the 
grating." 

"  I  mean  to  watch  it,"  said  Lucy,  "  and  see." 

"Then  you  had  better  go  and  stand  on  the 
bridge,"  replied  the  girl.  "  You  can  see  it  better 
on  the  bridge." 

"  I  don't  think  Comfort  would  let  me,"  said 
Lucy. 

"  You  had  better  go  and  ask  her,"  said  the  girl. 


SHOPPING.  121 

"  No,"  said  Lucy  ;  "  it  don't  do  any  good  to 
ask  any  body  any  thing  when  they  are  a-shopping. 
They  are  always  talking  about  ninepence  and 
tenpence." 

The  girl  laughed,  and  then  went  into  the  house. 

Lucy  looked  at  the  slab  a  short  time,  and  then, 
as  it  did  not  move  much,  she  got  tired  of  watch- 
ing it ;  and  so  she  turned  to  look  at  the  chickens. 
She  gave  them  a  little  more  of  her  gingerbread, 
and  ate  the  rest.  Then  she  went  into  the  store, 
and  amused  herself  in  walking  about,  and  looking 
at  the  things  which  the  storekeeper  had  to  sell. 

In  about  three  quarters  of  an  hour  from  the 
time  when  they  came  into  the  store,  Comfort  was 
ready  to  go.  She  had  completed  her  purchases, 
and  the  storekeeper  had  put  them  all  up  in  one 
great  parcel,  with  some  strong  and  coarse  brown 
paper  wrapped  around  it.  Comfort  put  her  par 
eel  into  the  wagon,  and  then  told  Lucy  that  she 
was  ready  to  go. 

"  Yes,"  said  Lucy,  "  only  you  must  go  down 
with  me  to  the  great  blue  stone." 

"  Well,"  said  Comfort,  "  I  will.  You've  been 
very  patient,  and  haven't  troubled  me  at  all." 

So   they    walked  along  together   towards   the 
bank  of  the  stream  below  the  mill. 
11 


122 


CHAPTER    IX. 

AN  ESCAPE. 

They  found  some  difficulty  in  getting  down 
the  bank,  it  was  so  steep  and  rocky.  There  were, 
however,  little  trees  and  bushes  growing  here 
and  there,  which  they  could  take  hold  of;  and 
there  was  a  kind  of  a  path,  too,  which  was  of 
considerable  service.  The  channel  by  which  the 
water  came  out  from  under  the  mill  was  almost 
dry,  so  that  they  walked  about  all  over  it,  step- 
ing  from  stone  to  stone.  They  went  up  very 
near  the  mill,  so  that  they  could  see  under  it. 
Lucy  saw  the  great  wheel,  but  it  was  still.  She 
said  she  wished  they  would  let  the  water  through 
again,  for  she  wanted  to  see  it  go. 

u  Why,  Lucy  !  "  said  Comfort ;  "  then  the  water 
would  come  pouring  down  where  we  stand.  And 
I  don't  think  that  we  ought  to  stay  here  much 
longer,  for  they  may  hoist  the  great  gate  suddenly. 
So  let  us  go  down  to  your  blue  stone." 

They  accordingly  walked  along  over  the  rocks, 
towards  the  blue  stone.     In  the  lower  part  of  the 


AN    ESCAPE.  123 

bed  of  the  channel,  the  stones  and  rocks  were 
wet  where  they  had  been  covered  with  water. 
The  higher  ones  were  dry,  showing  that  where 
the  water  came  through  under  the  mill,  they  were 
not  covered  by  it.  Comfort  told  Lucy  to  step 
along  on  the  dry  rocks,  for  the  wet  ones  were  apt 
to  be  slippery. 

At  length,  they  reached  the  great  blue  stone. 
Comfort  said  that  it.  was  a  beautiful  place  to  stop 
and  see  the  water.  The  middle  part  of  the  rock 
was  dry  ;  but  it  was  wet  all  around  the  sides,  and 
there  was  a  little  water  still  standing  on  each  side, 
which  they  had  to  step  over,  in  getting  upon  the 
rock.  There  were  several  chips,  and  sticks,  and 
small  pieces  of  board  on  the  edges  of  the  rock. 
They  had  floated  on  when  the  water  was  high, 
and  had  been  left  there. 

Lucy  amused  herself  a  few  minutes  throwing 
these  pieces  of  wood  off  into  the  middle  of  the 
current,  and  seeing  them  float  away  down  the 
stream.  Comfort  took  up  a  long,  crooked  pole, 
and  pushed  off  some  which  were  lying  in  places 
out  of  Lucy's  reach.  After  a  little  while,  when 
Lucy  had  thrown  off  all  that  were  upon  the  front 
side  of  the  stone,  she  turned  and  went  to  the 
back  side,  to  find  some  more.  Comfort  happened 
to  be  standing,  at  that  moment,  on  the  front  side 


124     LUCY  AMONG  THE  MOUNTAINS. 

of  the  stone,  reaching  out,  and  trying  to  push  off  a 
small  log  which  was  partly  floating,  and  partly 
lodged  upon  a  rock.  Just  as  she  succeeded  in 
pushing  off  the  log,  she  heard  Lucy  exclaim,  in  a 
tone  of  surprise, — 

"  Why  !  why !  how  wide  the  water  is  !  " 

Comfort  looked  round,  and  dropped  her  pole 
instantly,  and  said,  — 

"  So  it  is  ;  the  water  is  rising.  The  men  have 
hoisted  the  gate.  We  must  get  off  this  rock  as 
quick  as  we  can." 

Comfort  and  Lucy  ran  all  around  the  rock, 
trying  to  find  a  place  to  get  off;  but  it  was  too 
late.  The  water,  on  each  side,  was  before  so 
wide  that  they  could  hardly  jump  over  it,  and  the 
surface  of  the  rocks  beyond,  which  formed  the 
bed  of  the  stream,  sloped  off  so  gradually,  that  a 
very  little  rise  in  the  water  made  it  considerably 
wider. 

"  What  shall  we  do  ?  "  said  Comfort ;  "  what 
shall  we  do  ? "  As  she  said  this,  she  kept  going 
round  and  round  the  rock,  trying  to  find  some 
place  where  it  would  do  to  jump  off;  but  she 
could  not.  Lucy  was  very  much  frightened,  and 
began  to  cry. 

" O,  Lucy,  don't  cry,"  said  Comfort.  "You 
needn't  be  afraid." 


AN    ESCAPE.  125 

"  O  dear  me  !  "  said  Lucy  ;  "  we  shall  cer- 
tainly be  drowned." 

"  O,  no  "  said  Comfort ;  "  there's  no  danger  of 
being  drowned.  We  can  stay  on  this  rock,  safe, 
till  we  contrive  some  way  to  get  off." 

"O,  no,"  said  Lucy  ;  "the  water  keeps  rising 
more  and  more,  and  it  will  cover  us  all  up." 

"  No,"  said  Comfort ;  "  don't  you  see  that  the 
top  of  the  rock  is  dry ;  and  that  proves  it  is  not 
covered  when  the  gate  is  up,  and  the  water  runs 
through  as  fast  as  it  will." 

Comfort  looked  at  the  water.  It  was  rising 
very  rapidly  ;  and  they  could  see  a  torrent  of  it 
come  pouring  down  upon  them  from. under  the 
mill,  which  threatened  to  raise  it  much  higher. 
Still  Comfort  was  not  afraid.  She  was  confident 
that  it  would  not  come  higher  than  to  cover  that 
part  of  the  rock  which  was  wet  before,  and  so 
that  they  were  safe  upon  the  dry  part.  And  the 
result  was  as  she  had  anticipated.  The  water 
continued  to  rise,  but  it  rose  more  and  more  slow- 
ly ;  and  when  it  arrived  at  the  old  high  water 
mark,  —  that  is,  the  line  where  the  rock  had  been 
wet  before, —  it  continued  standing  at  that  level. 
,  "  There,"  said   Comfort,  "  it  won't   rise   any 

11* 


126     LUCY  AMONG  THE  MOUNTAINS. 

Lucy  looked  very  anxious  and  unhappy.  She 
did  not  see  how  they  could  get  off. 

"  We  shall  have  to  stay  here  all  the  time," 
said  she,  in  a  very  sad  and  desponding  tone. 

"  No,"  said  Comfort;  "there's  one  way  we 
can  do,  I'm  sure.  I  can  call  out  to  the  people  in 
the  store,  and  they'll  come  and  help  us  off." 

"  1  don't  see  how  they  can  help  us  off,  if  they 
come,"  said  Lucy. 

"  O,  yes,"  replied  Comfort ;  "  they  can  go  and 
shut  the  gate,  if  they  can't  do  any  other  way." 

"  Then  that  will  stop  the  mill,"  said  Lucy ; 
"  and  1  don't  believe  they  will  be  willing  to  stop 
their  mill." 

"  Yes  they  will,"  said  Comfort.  "  I  know 
Mr.  Jameson,  that  owns  the  mill.  He'll  stop  it 
for  us,  I  know." 

"  Well,  then,"  said  Lucy,  "  why  don't  you  call 
them  ?  " 

"  Why,  I  want  to  look  around,  and  think  a 
little,  first,"  said  Comfort.  "  If  we  call  them, 
they'll  come  and  help  us,  I  know  ;  but  then  Mr. 
Jameson  will  laugh  at  me  well,  and  I  don't  want 
to  be  laughed  at." 

"  I  had  rather  be  laughed  at  than  be  drowned," 
said  Lucy. 


AN    ESCAPE.  127 

"  Yes,"  said  Comfort ;  "  but  we'll  see.  I  want 
to  look  around  and  think  a  little.  I've  heard 
them  say  that,  if  your  life  is  in  danger,  and  you 
have  only  got  two  minutes  to  save  it,  you  must 
take  one  of  them  to  think  what  to  do." 

"  If  we  only  had  a  slab,"  said  Comfort,  look- 
ing around.  "  And  there  comes  one  now,  I  de- 
clare." 

Comfort  pointed  towards  the  dam.  Lucy 
looked,  and  behold  a  slab  was  just  appearing 
over  the  edge  of  the  dam.  It  rubbed  along, 
stopped,  then  rubbed  along  again,  moving  very 
slowly,  as  there  was  scarcely  water  enough  to 
bring  it  over.  At  length,  when  it  had  advanced 
so  far  that  the  projecting  end  was  heavier  than 
the  other,  it  fell  slowly  over,  and  came  down  with 
a  thump  upon  the  rocks  below.  Lucy  and  Com- 
fort saw  all  this,  for  they  were  standing  so  low, 
and  the  bridge  was  so  high,  that  they  could  see 
the  top  of  the  dam  under  it.  As  the  slab  fell 
down,  its  face  was  presented  directly  towards 
them  ;  and  Lucy  said,  — 

"  It  is  our  very  old  slab,  I  truly  believe.  I 
saw  it  floating  down  in  the  mill-pond,  a  good 
while  ago." 

"  I  believe  it  is  the  very  same,"  said  Comfort. 


12S     LUCY  AMONG  THE  MOUNTAINS. 

"  Now,  if  I  can  only  reach  it  with  this  pole  when 
it  comes  by  us." 

Comfort  took  up  the  pole  again,  and  they  both 
watched  the  slab,  as  it  came  swiftly  on  towards 
the  bridge.  It  struck  one  of  the  piers  of  the 
bridge,  and  then  the  upper  end  began  slowly  to 
move  round,  just  as  it  had  done  against  the  stone 
where  Comfort  and  Lucy  first  pushed  it  off. 

"  Yes,"  said  Comfort,  "  it  is  coming  round  this 
way." 

The  slab  moved  slowly,  until  it  got  into  the 
current  again,  and  then  it  was  swept  along  more 
swiftly  than  ever.  It  came  on  towards  the  side 
of  the  stream  where  Comfort  and  Lucy  were 
standing  on  the  rock  ;  but  Comfort  was  afraid  that 
it  was  not  coming  quite  near  enough.  She 
reached  the  pole  out  as  far  as  she  could,  so  as  to 
have  it  all  ready,  saying,  — 

"  Now,  Lucy,  don't  speak  a  word." 

She  just  succeeded  in  resting  the  end  of  the 
pole  upon  the  forward  end  of  the  slab. 

"  There,"  said  Lucy  ;  "  now  pull." 

But  Comfort  knew  better  than  to  pull.  It 
would  only  have  pulled  her  pole  off,  and  let  the 
slab  go  down  the  stream  irrecoverably.  She 
therefore  only  drew  in  the  pole  very  gently,  but 


( 


AN    ESCAPE.  131 

following,  at  the  same  time,  the  natural  motion  of 
the  slab  down  the  stream.  By  this  means,  she 
succeeded  in  bringing  the  slab  round  into  a  little 
sort  of  bay  of  still  water,  below  the  great  blue 
rock. 

"  There/'  said  Comfort ;  "  now  we'll  make  a 
bridge." 

Lucy  was  exceedingly  rejoiced  to  see  the  slab 
safe  under  their  control.  She  was  very  ready  to 
help  Comfort  place  it.  They  found  some  diffi- 
culty, however,  in  doing  this,  though  they  suc- 
ceeded at  last.  They  drew  the  slab  up  into  the 
channel  on  one  side  of  the  great  stone,  where 
there  was  a  narrow  place,  and  then  they  pushed 
the  farther  end  of  it  up  a  little  way  upon  the 
opposite  shore.  Then  they  lifted  the  end  which 
was  towards  them,  and  put  it  upon  the  rock ; 
and  thus  they  had  a  bridge. 

"  Now,"  said  Comfort,  "  we  must  go  over 
carefully,  for  it  is  slippery.  However,  there  is  no 
danger  ;  for  if  we  get  in,  it  is  not  very  deep,  and 
we  shall  only  get  pretty  well  wet." 

But  they  did  not  get  in.  Comfort  walked 
over  first  very  carefully,  leading  Lucy  by  the 
hand,  who  came  behind  her.  Lucy  jumped  and 
capered  about  upon  the  bank,  when  she  found 


132  LUC¥  AMONG  THE  MOUNTAINS. 

that  she  was  free  ;  and  they  both  went  up  the 
bank  as  fast  as  they  could  go. 

"  We  got  some  good  by  trying  to  help  George 
off,  didn't  we  ?"  said  Lucy,  when  they  were  get- 
ting into  the  wagon. 

"Yes,"  said  Comfort. 

"It's  very  lucky,  I  think,"  said  Lucy,  "  that 
we  went  to  get  the  slab  for  George." 

"  No,"  said  Comfort ;  "  it  was  unlucky,  accord- 
ing to  the  old  rule." 

"  What  is  the  old  rule  ?"  asked  Lucy. 

"  Why,  that  it  is  unlucky  to  take  pay  for  doing 
a  kindness." 

As  they  drove  down  to  come  upon  the  bridge, 
Lucy  observed  a  young  man  coming  along  over 
the  bridge,  from  the  other  side.  Comfort  stopped 
talking,  and  did  not  say  any  thing  more  until  they 
had  passed  him.  He  smiled  when  he  met  them, 
and  bowed  to  Comfort.  Comfort  nodded  to  him 
in  return. 

"  Who  was  that,  Comfort  ?"  said  Lucy,  when 
they  got  by. 

"  That  is  Mr.  Jameson,"  said  Comfort.  "  I 
would  not  have  had  him  know  we  got  caught 
down  there  on  the  rocks  for  half  a  dollar." 


133 

CHAPTER   X. 
EFFECT. 

That  evening  Lucy  and  her  mother  set  out 
to  go  with  Robert  to  his  clearing,  to  build  a  fire 
for  the  purpose  of  seeing  how  it  would  look  in 
the  dark.  When  they  were  up  there  in  the  fore- 
noon, Lucy  had  asked  her  mother  to  go  up  some 
evening,  as  Robert  said  he  had  another  heap  which 
he  could  burn.  Lucy  wanted  very  much  to  see 
a  fire  in  the  night,  and,  in  fact,  her  mother  did, 
too.  They  asked  the  General  about  it  at  supper- 
time,  and  he  said  that  there  was  no  danger  then 
in  making  fires ;  and  so,  a  little  after  sundown, 
Lucy  and  her  mother  set  forth,  Robert  and  Eben 
coming  along  close  behind  them.  Lucy  carried 
the  lantern,  and  Robert  his  axe. 

Lucy  had  given  her  mother  an  account  of  her 
adventure  with  Comfort  on  the  great  stone ;  and 
so  strong  had  been  the  impression  which  the  affair 
had  made  upon  her  mind,  that  she  had  several 
times  alluded  to  it  afterwards.  And  now,  as  they 
were  walking  along,  her  mother  silently  admiring 
12 


134    LUCY  among  the  mountains. 

the  beauty  of  the  evening,  Lucy's  thoughts  were 
away  down  by  the  mill,  -  her  imagination  being 
busy,  reproducing  images  of  the  great  wheel,  the 
channel  below  the  mill,  the  wet  stones,  the  slab, 
and  the  current  of  water. 

At  last  she  said, — 

"  Mother,  what  makes  it  unlucky  to  thank 
people  for  doing  a  kindness  ?  " 

"  I  didn't  know  that  it  was,"  replied  her  mother. 

"  Yes,  mother,"  said  Lucy ;  "  Comfort  says 
it  is." 

"  It  seems  to  me,"  replied  her  mother,  "  that 
Comfort  is  a  great  authority  with  you  these  days." 

"  I  don't  know  what  you  mean,"  said  Lucy. 

"  Why,  I  think  you  quote  Comfort  pretty  often." 

"  Quote  her  ?  "  repeated  Lucy.  "  I  don't  know 
what  you  mean:  I  never  heard  of  quoting  any 
body." 

"What  was  it  she  said  about  its  being  un- 
lucky?" 

"  Why,  she  said  it  was  unlucky  to  take  any 
pay  for  doing  a  kindness." 

"  People  have  a  great  many  sayings,"  replied 
her  mother,  "about  what  is  lucky  and  unlucky; 
but  I  haven't  much  faith  in  such  notions  myself." 

"  I  don't  see  what  they  say  so  for,  if  it  is  not 
true,"  said  Lucy. 


EFFECT.  135 

"  Perhaps  they  think  it  is  true.  Some  people 
think  Friday  is  an  unlucky  day,  and  so  they  never 
will  begin  any  new  undertaking  on  Friday,  if  they 
can  help  it." 

"  Do  you  think  that  it  is  an  unlucky  day, 
mother?"  said  Lucy. 

"  No,  I  don't  think  it  is  more  unlucky  than 
any  other  day  in  the  week.  It  is  not  a  very  good 
day  to  begin  any  new  undertaking,  such  as  a 
journey,  because  it  comes  so  near  the  end  of  the 
week." 

"  Is  that  the  reason  why  they  call  it  unlucky," 
said  Lucy,  "  do  you  suppose  ?  " 

"  Perhaps  it  originated  in  that.  Such  notions 
have  generally  something  or  other  for  a  foun- 
dation. Though  I  have  heard  it  said  that  the 
reason  why  Friday  has  such  a  bad  reputation, 
is  because  it  was  the  day  of  the  crucifixion  of 
Christ." 

"  Did  they  crucify  him  Friday  ?  "  asked  Lucy. 

"  Yes,"  replied  her  mother. 

"  How  do  they  know  ? "  asked  Lucy.  "  It 
does  not  say  so  in  the  Bible.  At  least,  I  never 
read  any  thing  about  Friday  in  the  Bible." 

"  No,"  replied  her  mother ;  "  the  account  does 
not  mention  that  particular  day  ;  but  it  says  that 
he  was  crucified  the  day  before  the  Sabbath,  and 


136     LUCY  AMONG  THE  MOUNTAINS. 

that  he  rose  from  the  dead  the  dav  after  the  Sab- 
bath." 

"Then  that  would  be  Saturday,"  said  Lucy. 
"The  day  before  the  Sabbath  is  Saturday." 

"  Yes,  the  day  before  our  Sabbath  is  Saturday,' 
replied  her  mother;  "  but  the  Sabbath  in  the  days 
of  Christ  was  on  Saturday  itself;  so  that  the  day 
before  was  Friday.  Jesus  was  crucified  on  Fri- 
day, and  he  remained  in  the  tomb  over  Saturday, 
which  was  their  Sabbath,  and  rose  from  the  dead 
on  Sunday  morning.  So  they  changed  the  Sab- 
bath from  Saturday  to  Sunday,  in  order  to  have 
it  on  the  same  day  that  he  rose." 

•''  Then  that's  the  reason  why  they  call  Friday 
an  unlucky  day?"  asked  Lucy. 

"  No,"  replied  her  mother;  "  I  did  not  say  that 
that  was  certainly  the  reason  ;  only  1  have  heard 
it  said  that  that  might  be  the  reason.  There  was 
a  time,  a  great  many  years  ago,  when  people  paid 
a  great  deal  more  attention  to  particular  days  than 
they  do  now,  and  celebrated  a  great  many ;  and, 
perhaps,  in  those  times,  they  considered  Friday, 
being  the  day  in  which  such  a  sad  event  hap- 
pened, an  unfortunate  or  unlucky  day." 

"  Well,  mother,"  said  Lucy,  after  a  short  pause, 
"  but  I  don't  see,  after  all,  why  Comfort  said  it 
was  unlucky  to  take  pay  for  doing  a  kindness." 


EFFECT.  137 

"  Perhaps  it  would  tend  to  make  a  person  act 
afterwards  from  mercenary  motives,"  said  her 
mother. 

"  What  does  that  mean  ?  "  said  Lucy. 

"  Why,  suppose,"  said  her  mother,  "  that  every 
time  you  performed  any  act  of  kindness  for  me 
or  your  father,  I  should  pay  you  for  it.  Then, 
after  a  while,  when  you  did  any  such  thing  for 
us,  perhaps  it  would  be  for  the  sake  of  the  pay." 

"  O,  no,  I  shouldn't,"  said  Lucy. 

"Well,  suppose,  then,  that  Eben  is  the  person. 
Suppose  that  you  had  a  great  many  sugar-plums, 
and  every  time  he  helped  you,  or  did  you  any 
kindness,  you  should  give  him  some  of  them. 
Don't  you  suppose  that  in  a  short  time,  instead 
of  helping  you  out  of  feelings  of  kindness  to  you, 
he  would  do  it  for  the  sake  of  getting  the  sugar- 
plums ? " 

"  Why,  yes,"  said  Lucy. 

"  His  motive,  that  is,  the  thoughts  that  would 
lead  him  to  do  any  thing  for  you,  would  be,  not 
honest  kindness  of  heart,  but  a  hope  of  pay." 

"  Yes,"  said  Lucy. 

"  Now,  when  any  person  is  led  by  hope  of  pay 
to  do  what  he  ought  to  do  for  other  motives,  they 
say  he  is  mercenary." 

"  What  does  mercenary  mean  ?  "  said  Lucy. 
1>2* 


138     LUCY  AMONG  THE  MOUNTAINS. 

"  Why,  that's  what  it  means,"  said  her  mother. 
"  I've  just  explained  it  to  you.  It  is  seeking  for 
pay  where  we  ought  not  to.  Once  there  was  a 
lady  who  was  sick,  and  a  boy  named  Jerry,  who 
lived  pretty  near,  came  to  the  door,  and  asked  how 
she  did,  and  wanted  to  know  if  he  could  do  any 
thing  for  her.  Now,  I  suppose  you  would  think 
that  that  was  a  very  kind,  generous  boy." 

"  Yes,  mother,  I  should  think  so,"  said  Lucy. 

"  He  would  have  been  so  if  his  motive  had 
been  as  good  as  it  appeared  to  be.  But  the  fact 
was,  his  motive  was  mercenary.  He  had  heard 
another  boy  say,  that  his  mother  sent  him  to  ask 
if  he  could  do  any  thing  for  the  lady,  one  day 
when  she  was  sick,  and  that  she  thanked  him,  and 
gave  him  a  cake.  So  Jerry  thought  that,  if  he 
went,  perhaps  he  should  get  a  cake  too." 

"  O,"  said  Lucy,  "  what  a  boy  !  " 

"  The  spirit  which  he  was  acting  under  was 
not  a  benevolent,  but  a  mercenary  one." 

"  Yes,"  said  Lucy,  "  I  thought  he  really  wanted 
to  know  what  he  could  do  for  the  sick  lady." 

"  That  was  the  appearance,"  replied  her  mother, 
"  but  it  was  a  false  appearance.  In  fact,  appear- 
ances,  in  such  cases,  are  often  deceptive.  Some- 
times, for  instance,  children  go  and  wish  people 
a  merry  Christmas,  or  a  happy  new  year,  when 


EFFECT.  139 

their  motive  is,  not  any  real  kind  feeling,  but  a 
hope  of  getting  a  present." 

Lucy  did  not  say  any  thing  in  reply  to  this. 
She  was  silent  a  moment.  She  was  thinking 
whether  she  had  not  been  influenced  by  mer- 
cenary motives,  sometimes,  in  wishing  people  a 
happy  new  year. 

"  Now,  it  is  very  evident,"  continued  her  moth- 
er, "  that  when  a  person  takes  pay  for  doing  any 
little  act  of  kindness,  that  it  may  tend  to  make 
them  expect  pay  in  future  cases.  Now,  you  hap- 
pened, in  this,  case,  to  do  George  a  favor.  The 
consequence  was,  that,  after  a  time,  the  benefit  of 
what  you  did  came  back  to  yourselves.  This  is 
very  apt  to  be  the  case  with  acts  of  kindness ; 
and  perhaps  it  is  right  to  tell  children  so,  and 
let  it  influence  them  in  some  degree  ;  but  still,  the 
real  reason,  after  all,  which  ought  to  influence  us 
in  doing  kindness  to  others,  is  simply  the  good  it 
will  do  them,  and  not  the  hope  of  having  good 
come  out  of  it,  somehow  or  other,  or  some  time  or 
other,  to  us." 

"Well,  mother,"  said  Lucy,  "I'm  sure  that, 
when  we  were  getting  the  slab,  to  help  George  off, 
we  didn't  think  of  ever  getting  helped  off  by  it 
ourselves." 

"  No,  I  presume  not,"  said  her  mother.     "  But 


140     LUCY  AMONG  THE  MOUNTAINS. 

is  it  not  time  for  us  to  get  to  Robert's  clearing? 
Robert,  how  much  farther  is  it  ?  "  said  she,  turn- 
ing round  to  speak  to  Robert. 

Robert  said  it  was  not  much  farther;  and  Lucy, 
who  turned  round,  too,  to  hear  his  answer,  observed 
that  the  light  of  the  lantern  flashed  upon  the  trees 
on  each  side  of  the  road  very  beautifully. 

"  How  bright  the  light  shines,"  said  Lucy, 
"  now  it  is  evening  !  " 

"  Yes,"  said  her  mother,  "  and  if  the  fire  is  as 
bright  in  proportion,  we  shall  have  a  splendid 
illumination." 

"  O,  there's  our  old  fire,"  said  Lucy. 

She  pointed  to  the  spot  where  they  had  made 
their  fire  in  the  morning.  It  had  burned  nearly 
out.  There  was,  however,  one  little  flame  coming 
up  from  it.  The  party  all  gathered  around  it 
to  see. 

"  It's  the  old  stump,"  said  Robert. 

In  fact,  Robert  had  thrown  upon  the  fire,  when 
he  went  away  in  the  morning,  a  large,  old  stump, 
half  decayed,  and  this  had  been  slowly  burning 
all  the  afternoon.  It  was  now  nearly  burnt  out ; 
but  a  piece  of  the  root  was  blazing  up  a  little. 
Robert  went  up  to  it,  and  took  hold  of  the  part 
which  was  not  on  fire,  and  then  walked  off  with 
the  burning  brand  in  his  hand.     He  led  the  way 


EFFECT.  141 

to  the  other  part  of  his  clearing,  where  he  had 
another  heap,  and  put  the  brand  in  under  it.  He 
then  took  the  lantern,  and  went  into  the  woods 
near  by,  to  find  some  dry  wood  to  help  set  the 
fire  to  burning.  He  came  back  soon,  and,  in  a 
few  minutes,  the  whole  party,  standing  in  a  ring 
around,  were  illuminated  by  a  bright  blaze.  A 
broad  column  of  smoke  csnd  sparks  ascended 
into  the  dark  sky,  and  the  bright  flashes  of  light 
gleamed  upon  the  trees  around  in  a  very  splendid 
manner. 

"  Isn't  it  a  good  bright  fire? "  said  Lucy. 

"  Yes,"  said  her  mother ;  "  I  want  to  walk 
about  a  little,  to  see  the  effect  on  the  trees  from 
different  positions." 

"The  effect,  mother?"  repeated  Lucy. 

"  Yes ;  come  with  me,  and  I'll  show,  you  what 
I  mean  by  effect." 

So  Lucy  took  hold  of  her  mother's  hand,  and 
they  walked  along  back  to  the  road.  They  went 
up  to  the  top  of  a  little  green  bank  very  near  the 
road,  and  then  turned  around  to  look  at  the  fire. 
It  was  partly  hid  by  a  little  group  of  small  trees 
which  intervened ;  that  is,  which  came  between. 
The  fire  seemed  to  be  in  the  middle  of  these  trees. 
The  leaves  and  branches  were  brightly  illuminated, 
and  in  the  midst  of  them  they  could  see  the  flame 


14.2  LUCY    AMONG    THE    MOUNTAINS. 

itself  glittering  through  the  little  openings  in  the 
foliage.  There  was  a  great  column  of  sparks,  too, 
ascending  above  the  trees  and  smoke,  illuminated 
by  the  fire  below.  The  sparks  were  produced  by 
Robert  and  Eben,  who  remained  at  the  fire, 
punching  it  with  long  poles. 

"  You  see  what  a  beautiful  appearance  the  fire 
has  here,"  said  Lucy's  mother.  "  Now,  we  will 
go  to  some  other  place,  where  it  will  present  a  dif- 
ferent picture,  or,  as  people  commonly  express  it, 
where  it  will  have  a  different  effect." 

So  they  descended  the  bank  again  into  the 
road,  and  walked  along  in  it  a  little  way  into  a 
very  bright  place,  where  the  light  from  the  fire 
shone  broadly  across  the  road.  When  they  had 
got  into  the  middle  of  this  bright  place,  they 
stopped,  and  turned  towards  the  fire.  Every  thing 
in  the  appearance  of  it  was  changed.  The  great 
glowing  flame  was  full  before  them.  There  was 
a  sort  of  circle  of  trees,  around  the  border  of 
Robert's  clearing,  which  shone  magnificently ; 
and  some  rocks  across  the  brook,  half  under  the 
trees,  seemed  to  be  edged  with  fire.  They  could 
see  Robert,  and  Eben  too.  Robert  was  behind 
the  fire,  with  his  face  towards  them.  One  arm 
was  extended  to  push  his  pole  into  the  fire,  and 
the  other  was  held  up  over  his  face  to  shade  it 


EFFECT.  143 

from  the  beat.  He  looked  up  to  Lucy,  and  smiled ; 
and  Lucy  was  surprised  to  observe  bow  distinctly 
she  could  see  the  expression  of  his  countenance 
and  the  movement  of  his  eyes,  so  bright  was  the 
illumination.  Eben  stood  on  one  side  banging 
the  fire  with  repeated  strokes  of  his  long  pole,  to 
make  the  sparks  fly. 

*  What's  that  great  thing  over  beyond  the 
brook,  mother  ?  "  said  Lucy. 

Lucy  pointed  to  something  at  some  distance 
across  the  brook,  and  beyond  some  large,  scattered 
trees. 

"  I  don't  know,"  said  her  mother ;  "  it  looks 
like  a  great  heap  of  logs  and  stumps.  Let  us  go 
and  ask  Robert." 

Robert  told  them  that  it  was  his  father's  great 
heap  of  logs  and  stumps,  that  he  had  got  out  of 
a  swamp. 

"  Let's  go  and  set  it  on  fire,"  said  Lucy. 

"  Will  it  do  to  set  it  on  fire  ? "  asked  her 
mother,  speaking  to  Robert. 

"  It  won't  burn,"  said  Robert;  "  it  has  not  been 
piled  up  long  enough." 

"  O,  we  can  make  it  burn,"  said  Lucy. 

"Well,"  said  Robert,  "we  can  try." 

"  Are  you  sure  your  father  will  be  willing  to 
have  you  set  it  on  fire  ? "  said  Lucy's  mother 


144     LUCY  AMONG  THE  MOUNTAINS. 

"  O,  yes,  ma'am,"  said  Robert,  "  I  know  he 
will ;  he  wants  it  burned." 

Robert  pulled  out  a  large  brand  from  the  (ire, 
and  gave  it  to  Eben  to  carry. 

"  Give  me  one,  too,"  said  Lucy. 

"  And  me,"  said  her  mother. 

Robert  got  brands  for  them  all,  and  they 
marched  along  in  a  fiery  procession  towards  the 
great  heap.  They  put  the  brands  all  together  in  a 
hole  under  the  heap,  and  then  went  back  for 
more.  In  this  way  they  soon  got  quite  a  little 
fire  burning  under  the  great  heap;  but  still  Rob- 
ert said  that  he  did  not  believe  the  heap  itself 
would  burn.  He  said  that  the  logs  and  stumps 
were  very  wet  when  they  were  taken  out  of  the 
swamp,  and  that  they  had  not  had  time  to  dry. 
The  children,  however,  worked  upon  it  some  time, 
and  then  left  it,  and  went  to  the  other  fire ;  and 
after  a  while  they  returned  to  the  great  heap 
again.  But  they  found,  as  Robert  had  predicted, 
it  did  not  appear  to  burn  very  well.  There  was 
a  great  smoke  coming  up  out  of  the  middle  of  it, 
but  they  could  not  decide  whether  it  was  going 
to  burn,  or  whether  it  was  going  out.  They 
pushed  under  some  more  dry  wood,  and  then 
waited  some  time  longer.  But,  at  length,  Lucy's 
mother  said  that  it  was  time  to  go  home,  and  they 


EFFECT.  145 

must  give  up  the  great  heap,  and  try  it  some  other 
time. 

Lucy  was  unwilling  to  leave  it,  and  wranted  to 
go  and  get  some  more  dry  wood ;  but  it  was  hard 
work  to  get  it,  for  the  heap  was  in  the  middle  ot 
the  swampy  part  of  the  ground,  from  where  the 
materials  had  been  taken,  and  so  they  had  to 
bring  the  dry  wood  from  some  little  distance,  out 
of  the  woods  on  the  higher  land  around  them. 
The  ground  on  which  the  heap  stood  was  not, 
however,  wet  and  swampy  then.  It  was  dry  and 
hard  ;  for  Robert's  father  had  dug  a  drain  leading 
right  through  the  middle  of  it  down  to  the  brook. 

They  were,  accordingly,  obliged  to  leave  the 
great  heap,  though  they  resolved  to  come  up  m 
the  daytime,  when  they  could  get  dry  wood; 
and  then,  as  Robert  said,  they  would  keep  crowd- 
ing dry  logs  under  till  they  made  it  burn. 


\ 


146 

CHAPTER    XI. 

THE   GAP  AMONG  THE   MOUNTAINS. 

The  next  morning,  when  Lucy  got  up,  the  first 
thing  she  did,  was  to  go  to  the  window  and  look 
out.  Her  mother  was  sitting  at  the  table,  writing 
a  letter. 

"  O  dear  me  !  "  said  Lucy  ;  "  now  if  the  clouds 
haven't  all  gone  away  ! " 

"  The  clouds  ?  "  repeated  her  mother  ;  "  what 
clouds  ?  " 

"  Why,  last  evening*"  replied  Lucy,  in  a  de- 
sponding tone,  "  there  were  some  clouds,  and  a 
circle  round  the  moon,  and  Robert  said  that  it 
was  going  to  rain.  And  now  they  have  all  gone 
away,  and  it  is  going  to  be  pleasant." 

"  Well,"  said  her  mother,  "  and  don't  you 
want  it  to  be  pleasant  ?  " 

"  No,"  said  Lucy  ;  "  I  want  it  to  rain." 

"  Why,  Lucy,"  said  her  mother,  with  surprise, 
"  what  do  you  want  it  to  rain  for  ?  " 

"  Why,  to  make  a  freshet  on  the  brook,  to  bring 


THE  GAP  AMONG  THE  MOUNTAINS.    147 

down  the  logs.  And  besides,  I  want  my  garden 
to  be  watered." 

"  Your  garden  !  "  repeated  her  mother.  "  I 
did  not  know  you  had  any  garden." 

"  Yes,"  said  Lucy ;  "  Ellen  gave  me  one,  and 
my  flowers  are  all  dying,  because  it  does  not  rain 
on  them." 

It  was  true  that  Lucy  had  a  little  garden.  It 
was  a  small  place  in  Ellen's  garden,  where  Ellen 
had  planted  six  hills  of  corn.  She  had  broken 
off  all  the  ears  of  corn  which  had  grown  there,  to 
roast,  and  so  the  stalks  which  were  left  were  not 
good  for  any  thing.  Ellen,  accordingly,  pulled 
them  up,  and  gave  them  to  the  cow :  and  she  told 
Lucy  that  she  might  have  the  place  for  her  gar- 
den. So  Lucy  had  hoed  it  over,  and  raked  it, 
and  put  flowers  in  it,  which  she  and  Eben  gath- 
ered from  a  field.  She  had  been  out  the  after- 
noon before,  to  see  her  garden,  and  the  flowers 
were  wilted.  The  reason  was,  that  they  had 
no  root ;  but  Lucy  thought  that  it  was  becauso 
they  had  not  been  watered  by  rain. 

As  the  sun  rose,  it  became  more  and  more  evi- 
dent that  she  was  to  be  disappointed  in  her 
wishes  for  rain.  Never  was  there  a  finer  prospect 
for  a  beautiful  day.     So  pleasant  was  the  morning, 


148     LUCY  AMONG  THE  MOUNTAINS. 

m  fact,  that,  at  breakfast,  the  General  proposed 
that  Lucy's  mother  should  go  and  take  a  ride, 
and  see  the  country  around  them. 

"  You  and  Lucy  might  take  the  wagon  and 
Hero,"  said  he,  "  and  have  a  good  ride  before 
dinner." 

"  Yes,"  said  Comfort ;  "  they  might  go  up 
through  the  Gap,  and  so  round  by  Emery's  Pond." 

"  O,  I  wouldn't  go  there,"  said  the  General's 
wife.  "  It's  all  rocks  and  mountains  on  that  road. 
I  think  she  had  better  go  down  to  the  corner,  and 
out  on  the  Greenville  road.  There  are  beautiful 
farms  that  way." 

"  Well,  mother,"  said  Lucy,  "let's  go." 

"  I  don't  know  as  I  should  be  able  to  manage 
Hero,"  said  her  mother.  "  I'm  not  much  ac- 
customed to  driving." 

"  No  difficulty  about  that,"  said  the  General. 
"  Hero  is  a  good  traveller,  but  you  can  manage 
him  as  easily  as  you  could  a  dog,  with  reins  or 
without  reins.  Or  you  may  take  Robert;  he'll 
drive  .you,"  continued  the  General,  after  a  mo- 
ment's pause.  "  Robert,  couldn't  you  rig  up  a 
seat  for  yourself  in  the  forward  part  of  the 
wagon  ? " 

Robert  said  he  could,  without  any  difficulty; 


THE  GAP  AMONG  THE  MOUNTAINS.   149 

and  finally,  after  some  further  discussion,  the  plan 
was  agreed  upon.  Robert  harnessed  Hero,  and  he 
put  a  box  in  the  wagon,  in  front,  for  himself  to 
sit  upon.  They  concluded  to  go  arouftd  through 
the  Gap ;  for  both  Lucy  and  her  mother  wanted 
to  see  the  rocks  and  the  mountains,  rather  than 
smooth  farms.  Just  as  they  were  going  to  set  off 
from  the  door,  the  General's  wife  brought  out  a 
tin  pail  with  a  cover  upon  it,  and  put  it  into  the 
wagon. 

"  What  is  that  ?  "  asked  Lucy. 

" Something  for  you  to  eat,"  said  she,  " so  that,- 
if  you  like  your  ride,  you  can  stop  and  have  a 
little  luncheon  some  where,  and  so  not  come  back 
until  the  middle  of  the  afternoon." 

When  they  drove  out  of  the  yard,  Robert 
turned  the  horse  in  the  direction  which  led  to  the 
fording-place,  where  Lucy  and  her  father  and 
mother  had  crossed  the  stream. 

"  Why,  this  is  the  way  we  came  ! "  said  Lucy. 

"  Yes,"  said  her  mother.  "  You  won't  have 
to  cross  the  ford,  shall  you  ? "  said  she  to  Robert. 

"  No,  ma'am,"  said  Robert ;  "we  are  going  to 
turn  off  pretty  soon." 

Accordingly,  after  they  had  gone  on  until  they 
had  passed  by  the  smooth  fields  of  the  General's 
farm,  they  came  to  a  road  which  turned  off  to- 
13* 


150     LUCY  AMONG  THE  MOUNTAINS. 

wards  the  mountains.  As  they  were  turning  into 
this  road,  Lucy  saw  a  beautiful  blue  flower,  grow- 
ing under  some  rocks. 

"  O  mother !  "  said  she,  "  see  what  a  beautiful 
blue  flower  1 " 

"  Yes,"  said  her  mother ;  "  I  should  like  to  get 
it.  We  will  stop  and  get  it  when  we  come  back. 
It  would  wilt  and  fade  away  before  we  get  home, 
if  we  take  it  now." 

"But  we  shall  not  come  back  this  way,"  said 
Robert,  at  the  same  time  stopping  Hero.  "  So  I 
had  better  get  it  now." 

Robert  jumped  out,  and  brought  the  flower,  and 
handed  it  to  Lucy.  Then  he  climbed  up  into 
his  seat  again,  and  drove  on. 

"  Which  way  shall  we  come  home  ? "  asked ' 
Lucy. 

"  Why,  we  are  going  round  by  Emery's  Pond, 
and  we  shall  come  out  by  the  Valley  district,  and 
so  home  by  the  road  that  leads  by  my  clearing." 

"  Where  is  the  Gap  that  your  father  spoke  of? " 
asked  Lucy's  mother. 

"  O,  it's  on  here  a  few  miles  among  the  moun- 
tains," replied  Robert.  "  This  road  leads  through 
the  Gap.  Father  says  it  would  not  be  possible  to 
make  a  road  here  if  it  were  not  for  this  Gap." 

The  country  grew  more  and  more  wild,  as  they 
advanced.  The  road  was  very  winding,  and  it 
ascended  and  descended  by  turns.  They  were, 
however,  on  the  whole,  gradually  rising,  as  they 
found  by  observation, every  now  and  then,  that  they 
had  a  more  and  more  extended  view  of  the  great 


THE  GAP  AMONG  THE  MOUNTAINS.   151 

valley  behind  them,  at  the  top  of  each  succeeding 
ascent  to  which  they  attained.  It  was  only  occa- 
sionally that  they  had  such  views,  for  generally 
they  were  entirely  shut  in  by  hills,  forests,  and 
precipices.  Before  them  they  saw  nothing  but 
vast  piles  of  mountains,  rising  higher  and  higher, 
and  covered  with  trees  nearly  to  the  summits. 
Lucy  did  not  see  how  they  could  possibly  get 
through  them  or  over  them.  In  fact  the  Gap, 
through  which  they  were  to  pass,  was  not  to  be 
seen  by  the  traveller  until  he  had  entered  it. 

Once,  as  they  were  coming  down  a  little  hill, 
where  the  road  took  a  sudden-  turn,  they  heard 
the  voice  of  a  man  echoing  amon£  the  forests 
before  them. 

"  What's  that  ?  "  said  Lucy.  In  fact,  Lucy 
was  a  little  afraid ;  and  it  must  be  confessed 
that  the  aspect  of  the  whole  scene  was  rather 
wild  and  gloomy. 

"  That's  somebody  driving  a  team,"  said 
Robert. 

11  How  shall  we  get  by  ?  "  said  Lucy's  mother. 
"  It  seems  to  me  the  road  is  very  narrow." 

"  O,  we  can  find  a  place  to  get  by,"  said  Robert. 

Just  then,  the  turn  of  the  road,  as  they  came 
down  the  hill,  brought  a  bridge  into  view, — a 
small  bridge,  but  very  high,  leading  across  a  brook. 
They  had  passed  several  similar  bridges  before, 
only  this  was  higher  than  the  others,  and  looked 
more  uneven.  There  were  large  logs  laid  along 
the  edge,  on  each  side  of  it,  for  a  balustrade 


152     LUCY  AMONG  THE  MOUNTAINS. 

"Why,  there's  a  hole  in  the  bridge,"  said 
Lucy's  mother. 

"  Yes,  ma'am,"  said  Robert ;  "  there  are  two  or 
three.  But  it's  no  matter.  Hero  will  look  out 
for  the  holes.". 

Hero  took  them  over  the  bridge  very  carefully, 
stepping  with  much  deliberation  over  each  hole, 
or  else,  where  there  was  room,  going  entirely  on 
one  side  of  it.  Just  as  they  had  crossed  the 
bridge,  they  saw  the  two  heads  of  a  yoke  of  oxen 
and  a  man  driving  them,  coming  into  view,  from 
a  turn  in  the  road,  at  the  top  of  a  little  ascent 
beyond.  A  large  pair  of  cart  wheels  followed 
the  oxen.  Under  the  axletree  of  the  wheels  was 
one  end  of  a  great  log,  held  up  to  the  axletree  by 
chains.  As  the  team  came  on,  Lucy  could  see 
that  the  other  end  of  the  log  rested  upon  the 
ground,  and  was  dragged  along  by  the  oxen. 

"  Why,"  said  Lucy,  "  what  are  they  going  to 
do  with  that  great  log  ?  " 

Her  mother  looked  up  to  the  team  with  a 
countenance  of  great  anxiety,  for  it  seemed  to  be 
coming  directly  down  upon  them.  Her  fears 
were,  however,  in  a  moment  relieved  ;  for  the  man 
who  was  driving  the  oxen,  turned  them  out  to 
one  side  of  the  road,  so  as  to  make  room  for  the 
wagon  to  go  by.  One  of  the  great  wheels  went 
away  down  by  the  side  of  the  road,  so  that  Lucy 
exclaimed, — 

"  O  dear  me  !  the  log  will  get  tipped  over." 

The  teamster,  however,  did  not  seem  at  all 


THE    GAP    AMONG    THE    MOUNTAINS.        153 

concerned  about  his  log,  for  he  stood  leaning 
against  his  oxen,  and  looking  at  the  persons  in  the 
wagon,  with  an  expression  of  great  interest  and 
curiosity  upon  his  countenance.  He  could  not 
think  who  it  was  that  was  coming.  He  at 
length  nodded  slightly  to  Robert,  just  as  he 
was  going  by.  He  recollected  that  he  had  seen 
him  somewhere. 

After  they  had  passed,  Lucy  said  to  Robert, — 

"  What  is  he  going  to  do  with  that  great  log? " 

"  Why,  that's  Mr.  Emery," said  Robert ;  "he's 
getting  out  some  boards  to  cover  his  house." 

There  were  two  things  very  perplexing  to  Lucy 
in  this  answer.  One  was,  that  she  did  not  see 
any  thing  like  boards.  She  thought  Mr.  Emery 
was  getting  out  a  monstrous  great  log,  and  not 
boards.  And  the  other  was,  she  did  not  know 
what  Robert  meant  by  covering  his  house. 

"  Where  is  Mr.  Emery's  house,"  said  Lucy. 

"  O,  it's  up  this  way,  pretty  near  his  pond," 
said  Robert.    "  We  shall  come  to  it  pretty  soon." 

"  Then  he's  going  the  wrong  way,"  said  Lu- 
cy.    "  He's  lost  his  way." 

"  No,"  said  Robert,  laughing ;  "  he's  hauling 
that  los:  down  to  mill,  to  get  it  sawed  up  into 
boards." 

"  O,"  said  Lucy,  "  yes,  that's  the  way  he's 
going  to  get  his  boards." 

"  Yes,"  said  Robert,  {;  that's  the  way  they 
always  get  boards." 

"  That  isn't  the  way  my  father  gets  boards/ 
said  Lucy 


154     LUCY  AMONG  THE  MOUNTAINS. 

"  How  does  he  get  them,  then  ?  "  asked  Robert. 

"  Why,  he  buys  them." 

"  I  should  think  he  had  better  get  out  the  logs 
himself,"  said  Robert,  "if  he's  got  any  growing 
on  his  land." 

"  My  father  hasn't  got  any  land,"  said  Lucy, 
"  only  just  his  garden." 

"  Only  his  garden  ? "  said  Robert. 

"  No,"  said  Lucy,  — "  and  the  yards  ;  nor 
any  oxen." 

"  Hasn't  your  father  got  any  oxen,  either  ? " 
asked  Robert. 

"  No,"  said  Lucy. 

"  Well,"  said  Robert,  "  then  I  don't  know 
what  he  will  do.  My  father  says  it's  a  great  deal 
cheaper  to  get  out  the  boards  yourself,  than  it  is 
to  buy  them  ;  but,  then,  you  must  have  oxen." 

By  this  time,  they  began  to  enter  the  Gap. 
The  mountains  and  precipices  had  been  growing 
more  lofty,  and  seemed  to  draw  nearer  and  nearer 
to  the  road,  until  now  they  appeared  to  overhang 
the  valley  all  around.  Sometimes  they  would 
pass  under  a  towering  cliff  of  rocks,  with  trees 
clinging  to  the  sides,  and  growing  out  of  the 
crevices. 

From  one  such  precipice  Lucy  saw  water 
dripping  down  from  a  great  height,  and  falling 
upon  some  stones  by  the  side  of  the  road. 

"  O  mother,"  said  Lucy,  "  see  the  water  com- 
ing down." 

"  Yes,"  said  Robert ;  "  that's  where  the  great 
icicle  was  last  winter." 


THE  GAP  AMONG  THE  MOUNTAINS.   155 

"  Was  there  a  great  icicle  there  ? "  asked 
Lucy. 

"  Yes,"  replied  Robert,  K  a  monster.  'Twas 
as  tall  as  the  steeple  of  the  meeting-house." 

"  O,  what  a  big  icicle  !  "  said  Lucy.  "  I  should 
like  to  see  it." 

"  If  you  come  here  next  winter,"  said  Robert, 
"  I  expect  you  can  see  it." 

Strictly  speaking,  it  was  not  an  icicle  that 
Robert  had  seen  hanging  down  on  the  face  of  the 
rocks,  the  last  winter,  though  it  looked  like  one. 
It  was  caused  by  the  freezing  of  the  water,  as  it 
dripped  down  from  a  vast  height.  It  looked  very 
much  like  a  monstrous  icicle  clinging  to  the  rock. 

Here  they  came  suddenly  upon  another  bridge. 
Lucy  was  surprised  to  see  so  many  bridges. 

"  How  many  brooks  there  are  !  "  said  Lucy. 

"  O  no,"  said  Robert,  "  only  one  brook.  All 
the  bridges  that  we  have  come  to,  are  over  one 
brook.     It  is  the  outlet  of  Emery's  Pond." 

"  What  is  an  outlet  ?  "  asked  Lucy. 

"  I  don't  know,"  said  Robert,  "  exactly. 
They  always  call  it  the  outlet." 

"  What  is  an  outlet,  mother  ?  "  said  Lucy. 

"  Why,  ponds  among  the  mountains,"  replied 
her  mother,  "  generally  have  little  streams  run- 
ning into  them,  coming  down  from  the  little 
valleys,  and  from  springs.  And  this  water  must 
run  out  again,  so  that  there  is  generally  a  place 
where  the  water  runs  out,  and  that  is  called  the 
outlet." 


156     LUCY  AMONG  THE  MOUNTAINS. 

"And  is  this  brook  the  outlet  to  Emery's 
pond  ? "  asked  Lucy. 

"  Yes,"  replied  Robert ;  "  and  all  the  bridges 
which  we  have  come  across,  are  over  this  same 
brook." 

"  What  do  they  have  so  many  for  ? "  asked 
Lucy. 

"  Why,  they  must  have  a  bridge  every  where, 
where  they  want  to  cross,"  replied  Robert. 
"  The  banks  are  too  steep  and  rocky  to  ford." 

"  But  why  need  they  cross  so  many  times  ? " 
asked  Lucy's  mother.  "  Why  not  keep  on  one 
side,  or  on  the  other,  all  the  way  ?  " 

"  Because,"  said  Robert,  "  they  can't  make 
the  road.  They  keep  going  back  and  forth  across 
the  brook  wherever  it's  easy  to  make  a  road. 
Besides,  it  is  not  much  work  to  make  a  bridge." 

"  How  do  they  make  it  ?  "  asked  Lucy. 

"  Why,  they  cut  down  a  couple  of  large  trees, 
for  stringers,  —  string-pieces, — or  else  three.  I 
believe  they  generally  have  about  three." 

"  What  do  you  mean  by  string-pieces  1 " 

"  Why,  pieces  to  go  across  the  stream  from  one 
bank  to  the  other,  to  put  the  planks  om" 

"  Do  they  generally  have  three  ? "  asked  Lu- 
cy's mother. 

"  Yes,  ma'am,"  replied  Robert,  "  I  believe  they 
do.  Then  they  split  up  some  logs  for  plank,  and 
so  cover  it." 

"  That  makes  me  think,"  said  Lucy,  "  of  what 
you  said  about  Mr.  Emery's  house.     You  said  he 


THE  GAP  AMONG  THE  MOUNTAINS.   157 

was  going  to  get  some  boards  to  cover  it  up. 
What  is  he  going  to  cover  his  house  up  with 
boards  for  ? " 

Robert  laughed  aloud  at  this  question. 

"  You  needn't  laugh,"  said  Lucy.  "  You  said 
that  he  was  going  to  cover  his  house  up." 

"  No,"  replied  Robert.  "  I  said  cover  his 
house  :  not  cover  it  tip." 

« Well,"  said  Lucy,  "  I  don't  think  there's 
much  difference.  Besides,  I'm  pretty  sure  you 
said  cover  it  up.     Didn't  he,  mother  ?  " 

"  Let  us  hear  what  Robert  says  he  meant," 
replied  her  mother. 

"Why,  I  meant,  cover  his  house,"  replied 
Robert ;  "  that  is,  nail  boards  on  it,  to  keep  out 
the  wind  and  rain." 

"  Hasn't  he  got  any  boards  nailed  on  his 
house  ?  "  asked  Lucy. 

"  Yes,"  said  Robert,  "  he's  got  one  room 
covered  in,  and  he  lives  in  that.  He's  trying  to 
finish  the  rest  this  fall." 

It  was  in  vain  that  Lucy  attempted  to  form  a 
distinct  conception  of  the  appearance  which  Mr. 
Emery's  house  would  make,  with  one  room 
covered  in,  as  Robert  called  it,  and  the  rest  wait- 
ing for  boards  yet  to  be  sawed.  She  said  no 
more,  however,  but  rode  on,  feeling  great  curiosity 
to  see  the  house,  and  asking  Robert  to  show  it 
to  her,  as  soon  as  they  should  come  in  sight  of  it. 
14 


158 
CHAPTER    XII. 

PUMP-MAKING. 

In  about  a  quarter  of  an  hour,  they  emerged 
from  the  Gap,  and  came  out  into  an  open,  circular 
valley,  surrounded  by  lofty  mountains.  They 
here  crossed  the  stream  again  by  a  log  bridge, 
and  rode  along  afterwards  upon  ics  bank ;  the 
stream  being  on  their  left  hand,  and  woods  upon 
the  right. 

"  Now,"  said  Robert,  "  we  shall  soon  come  to 
Emery's  opening." 

"  What  do  you  mean  by  his  opening  ?  "  said 
Lucy. 

"  Why,  his  farm,"  answered  Robert. 

While  Lucy  was  considering  why  they  should 
call  a  farm  an  opening,  she  obtained  a  glimpse  of 
a  small  sheet  of  water  before  them.  It  was  a 
little  pond,  shut  in  among  the  mountains.  They 
very  soon  reached  it.  Lucy  saw  where  the  brook 
came  out  of  the  pond.  They  rode  along  a  little 
way,  by  the  shore  of  the  pond.  On  the  other 
side  of  the  road,  there  was  what  Lucy  called  a 
field  of  corn  and  stumps.  A  little  farther  on, 
just  in  the  edge  of  a  group  of  forest-trees,  which 
remained  standing,  Lucy  saw  a  small  house. 

"  There's  Mr.  Emery's  house,"  said  Robert. 

Lucy  looked  at  the  house  with  great  attention, 


PUMP-MAKING.  159 

as  they  gradually  drew  near  to  it.  It  was  small 
One  end,  the  nearest  end,  as  they  rode  towards 
it,  was  covered  with  boards,  which  looked  new. 
The  other  end  was,  as  Lucy  said,  all  timbers. 

"  Yes,"  said  Robert ;  "  he  hasn't  covered  bui 
one  room  yet.  That's  what  he  wants  to  gel 
some  boards  for  now,  to  put  on  the  rest  of  it." 

Lucy  saw  several  small  buildings  around  the 
house.  They  were  made  of  logs  and  slabs. 
There  was  a  large  haycock  behind  the  house, 
with  a  roof  over  it,  supported  at  the  corners  by 
tall  poles.  In  front  of  the  house,  there  was  a 
man  at  work  upon  a  great  log.  The  log  was 
lying  in  a  horizontal  position,  each  end  being 
blocked  up  from  the  ground  ;  that  is,  each  end 
was  supported  by  blocks  and  logs  put  underneath. 

"What  are  they  doing  with  that  great  log?" 
said  Lucy's  mother. 

"  I  guess  they're  going  to  make  boards,  of  it," 
said  Lucy. 

"  No,"  said  Robert ;  "  they're  boring  it.  I 
expect  they  are  going  to  make  a  pump." 

"  I  did  not  know  that  they  could  make  a  pump 
out  of  a  log,"  said  Lucy. 

"  Yes,"  said  Robert ;  "  don't  you  see  he's  bor- 
ing a  hole  through  it  ?  " 

'  Lucy  now  observed  that  the  man  who  was 
working  at  the  log,  stood  at  the  end  of  it,  and  that 
he  had  a  tool  in  his  hand,  that  looked  like  an 
auger.  He  held  the  handle  of  it,  and  kept  con- 
tinually turning  it  round.  The  iron  part  entered 
into  a  hole  in  the  end  of  the  log,  and  Lucy  saw 


160     LUCY  AMONG  THE  MOUNTAINS. 

that  he  was  boring  a  hole  into  it.  She  thought, 
however,  that  he  certainly  could  not  bore  in  but  a 
very  little  way. 

There  was  a  little  boy  sitting  upon  the  other 
end  of  the  log.  Lucy  could  not  imagine  what  he 
was  doin£.  She  thought  that  he  was  too  small  a 
boy  to  help  make  a  pump ;  and  yet  he  seemed 
to  be  doing  something  very  busily.  As  the 
wagon  drew  nearer,  Lucy  observed  that  he  was 
playing  horse.  He  had  mounted  upon  the  farther 
end  of  the  log,  and  had  tied  a  string  round  the 
end  for  a  bridle,  and  was  playing  that  the  log 
was  his  horse.  He  had  a  stick  in  his  hand, 
and  was  whipping  his  horse  severely,  to  make 
him  go. 

When  the  wagon  had  advanced  nearly  opposite 
to  the  house,  Lucy  said,  — 

"  Mother,  let  us  stop  a  moment,  and  see  the 
man  make  his  pump." 

"  Well,"  replied  her  mother,  "  Robert  may 
stop  a  moment,  if  he  pleases." 

So  Robert  stopped  his  horse  opposite  to  the 
end  of  the  log,  where  the  man  was  at  work  boring 
the  hole. 

"  You've  got  almost  through,  John,  haven't 
you  ?  "  said  he. 

"  Yes,"  said  the  young  man,  "  I've  only  got  to 
go  about  a  foot  farther." 

Lucy  looked  at  John,  surprised  that  Robert 
should  address  him  so  familiarly  ;  but  she  observed 
that,  though  he  was  nearly  full  grown,  and  looked 
like  a  man,  yet  he  appeared  in  his  countenance 


PUMP-MAKTNG.  161 

quite  young.  She  thought  it  probable  that  he 
was  one  of  Mr.  Emery's  boys,  almost  grown  up. 
Just  at  this  moment,  a  woman,  very  plainly 
dressed,  came  out  of  a  back  door  in  the  house, 
with  a  water-pail  in  her  hand,  and  walked  along  a 
path  which  led  down  a  descent  beyond  the  house. 
She  looked  at  the  wagon  a  moment  as  she  went 
along,  but  did  not  stop.  Lucy  followed  the 
direction  of  the  path  with  her  eye,  and  she  saw 
that  it  led  down  to  a  little  brook  not  far  from  the 
house.  There  was  a  log  across  the  brook  where 
the  path  reached  it,  and  a  deep  place  in  the 
water,  just  above  the  log.  Lucy  saw  very  plainly 
that  the  woman  wras  going  to  get  a  pail  of  water. 

Lucy  meant  to  watch  her,  to  see  her  dip  up 
her  water.  In  fact,  she  was  afraid  that  she  would 
fall  off  the  log.  She  was,  however,  prevented 
from  watching  her,  by  having  her  attention 
attracted  suddenly  to  John  and  his  boring ;  for, 
just  before  the  woman  reached  the  brook,  John 
began  to  draw  out  his  auger.     . 

He  walked  backwards,  keeping  hold  of  the 
handle  of  the  auger  with  both  hands,  and  drawing 
it  out  as  he  receded.  It  was  a  long  iron  rod, 
which  kept  coming  out  more  and  more,  the  far- 
ther he  went  back,  till  Lucy  began  to  think  that 
the  end  of  it  would  never  come. 

"  O,  what  a  long  borer ! "  said  Lucy. 

In  fact,  the  borer  was  as  long  as  the  log.     It 

would    do  no  good  to  have  a  log  for  a   pump 

/onger  than  the  auger  to  be  used  in  boring  it ;  for 

in  that  case  the  hole  could  not  be  bored  through. 

14* 


162     LUCY  AMONG  THE  MOUNTAINS. 

Accordingly,  Mr.  Emery  had  cut  off  his  log  a 
little  shorter  than  his  auger,  in  order  that  it  might 
go  through.  After  John  had  got  the  auger  out, 
he  did  something  to  the  end  of  it,  and  then  put 
it  in  again. 

"When  are  you  going  to  set  your  pump?" 
said  Robert. 

"Father  is  going  to  bring  up  the  "boxes  to- 
night," said  John,  "  and  then  we  shall  set  it  as 
soon  as  we  can  get  it  ready." 

"  Have  you  got  your  well  dug  ?  " 

"  Yes,"  said  John  ;   "  there  it  is." 

So  saying,  John  pointed  to  a  place  by  the  side 
of  the  house,  where  there  was  a  heap  of  Iresh 
earth,  with  a  hollow  place  in  the  middle,  and 
some  short  boards  laid  close  together  in  the  hol- 
low place. 

"  We  are  going  to  build  our  barn  out  beyond 
there,  and  so  the  pump  will  be  handy  for  the 
house  and  the  barn  too.  It  is  very  hard  water- 
ing the  cattle  m  the  brook  in  the  winter,  it 
freezes  up  so  much." 

"  And,  besides,"  said  Lucy's  mother,  "  it  is  a 
great  way  to  bring  up  water  to  use  in  the  family." 

"  Yes,  ma'am,"  said  John. 

Lucy  looked  down  towards  the  brook,  and  saw 
that  the  woman  was  coming  back,  with  her  pail 
rilled  with  water.  Lucy  had  just  time  to  see  her ; 
for  Robert  drove  on,  and  the  woman  was  soon  hid 
behind  one  of  the  little  buildings.  Lucy  was,  how- 
ever, very  glad  to  see  that  she  had  not  fallen  in. 

"  I  don't  see  how  he  is  going  to  make  a  pump 
of  that  great  log,"  said  Lucy. 


PUMP-MAKING.  163 

"Why,  when  he  gets  it  bored,"  said  Robert, 
"  he  will  finish  off  one  end  of  it  like  a  pump,  and 
then  they'll  let  the  other  end  down  into  their  well, 
and  board  up  close  all  around  it,  so  that  people 
shall  not  fall  in.     Then  he'll  make  a  handle." 

"  I  should  think  it  would  make  rather  a  rough 
pump,  after  all,"  said  Lucy's  mother. 

"  No,  ma'am,"  said  Robert ;  "  he'll  make  a  very 
good  pump  of  it.     He's  a  very  good  workman." 

"I  don't  see  what  makes  the  water  come  up  in 
a  pump,"  said  Lucy. 

"  The  boxes,"  replied  Robert. 

"  What  are  the  boxes  ?  "  asked  Lucy. 

"  Why,  they're  —  they're  —  little  things  in  the 
pump.     Didn't  you  ever  see  boxes  ?  " 

"  Yes,"  said  Lucy,  "  a  great  many  times." 
Lucy  meant  common  boxes,  not  pump-boxes. 

"  Well,"  said  Robert,  "  you  know  the  little 
clapper." 

"  No,"  said  Lucy ;  "  I  don't  remember  any 
clappers." 

"  Why,  yes,"  said  Robert,  "  a  little  clapper 
made  of  leather." 

"No,"  said  Lucy  ;  "  there  is  not  any  clapper 
in  any  of  the  boxes  I  ever  saw." 

"  Then  you  never  saw  any  pump-boxes,"  said 
Robert. 

"  Why,"  said  Lucy,  "  are  they  different  from 
any  other  kind  of  boxes  ?  " 

"  Yes,"  exclaimed  Robert,  emphatically,  "  al 
together  different.     There  is  a  little  leather  clap- 
per, that  lets  the  water  up,  and  then  keeps  it  from 
going  down  again." 


1^4  LUCY    AMONG    THE    MOUNTAINS. 

But  Lucy  could  not  understand  how  any  thing 
could  be  contrived  to  let  the  water  come  up,  and 
then  keep  it  from  going  down.  Robert  told  her 
about  the  upper  box  and  the  lower  box  ;  but  he 
did  not  succeed  in  making  it  plain  to  her.  In 
fact,  it  requires  considerable  skill  in  the  art  of 
describing  and  explaining,  to  communicate  any 
clear  idea  of  the  internal  construction  and  working 
of  a  pump.  Lucy  could  not  get  any  idea  of  it 
whatever.  She  asked  her  mother  to  explain  it  to 
her ;  but  her  mother  said  that  she  did  not  under- 
stand it  very  well  herself.  So  Lucy  said  she  did 
not  know  what  she  should  do. 

The  road  led  them,  for  a  time,  along  the  shores 
of  the  pond,  and  generally  not  much  above  the 
water.  And,  as  they  passed  along,  they  could 
see  the  water  on  one  side  of  them,  and  sometimes 
they  had  forests,  and  sometimes  steep  rocks,  on 
the  other.  At  length,  they  came  to  a  place  where 
Lucy  proposed  that  they  should  stop  and  eat 
their  luncheon.  It  was  a  place  where  a  brook 
flowed  into  the  pond.  The  road  crossed  the 
brook  by  a  bridge,  just  above  its  juncture  with 
the  pond ;  so  that,  when  they  were  on  the  bridge, 
they  could  see  the  pond  below  them,  between 
the  steep  banks  of  the  ravine,  through  which  the 
brook  flowed.  One  of  the  banks  was  an  almost 
perpendicular  cliff  of  rock.  The  other  was  not 
quite  so  abrupt,  and  it  was  covered  with  trees 
They  could  see  that  down  upon  the  shore  of  the 
pond,  there  was  a  smooth,  sandy  beach,  extending 
along  the  shore  on  each  side  of  the  mouth  of  the 
brook.     Lucy  proposed  that  they  should  stop  here. 


FUMP-MAKING.  1 65 

"  Well,'7  said  her  mother,  "I  think  it  will  be  a 
very  good  plan." 

"  Yes,  ma'am,"  said  Robert ;  "  there  is  plenty 
of  good  grass  about  here,  too,  for  Hero." 

Lucy  had  not  noticed  the  grass ;  but  now  she 
observed  that,  on  each  side  of  the  road,  and  near 
the  banks  of  the  brook,  above  the  bridge,  there 
was  plenty  of  grass.     So  they  all  got  out. 

Robert*  began  to  unharness  the  horse,  after 
driving  him  a  little  way  out  of  the  road.  Lucy 
stood  on  the  end  of  the  bridge,  looking  at  him. 
Her  mother  began  to  descend  the  rocks,  below 
the  bridge,  in  order  to  get  down  to  the  bed  of  the 
brook,  intending  to  follow  it  along  to  the  pond. 
Lucy  wanted  to  go  with  her  mother,  and  she  a!so 
wanted  to  see  Robert  take  care  of  the  horse. 

"  Mother,  wait  for  me,"  said  Lucy. 

"  I'll  go  along  slowly,"  said  her  mother. 

"But,  mother,"  said  Lucy,  "I  can't  get  along, 
unless  you  help  me." 

"  Yes,"  said  her  mother,  "  I  think  you  can. 
At  any  rate,  if  I  find  any  place  where  I  think 
you  can't  get  along,  I  will  wait  for  you." 

Robert  went  on  unharnessing  his  horse.  He 
put  the  several  parts  of  the  harness  in  the  wagon 
as  he  took  them  off,  and  at  last  nothing  remained 
but  the  bridle. 

"  Robert,"  said  Lucy,  "  are  you  going  to  fasten 
him  to  a  tree?  " 

"  No,"  said  Robert ;  "  he  couldn't  eat  the 
grass,  if  I  should." 

"  What  are  you  going  to  do,  then  ?  "  said  Lucy. 

"  I  am  going  to  let  him  go  where  he  likes  " 


166  LUCY    AMONG    THE    MOUNTAINS. 

"  O  Robert,"  said  Lucy,  "  then  he'll  run 
away." 

"  No,"  said  Robert. 

Robert  then  unfastened  the  throat-lash,  and 
took  hold  of  the  bridle,  at  the  top  of  the  horse's 
head,  and  drew  it  over  his  ears,  and  off  before ; 
and  then  the  bits  dropped  easily  out  of  his  mouth, 
and  the  horse,  understanding  that  he  was  liberated, 
drew  his  head  away.  He  walked  off  a  few  steps, 
and  then  lay  down  to  roll,  while  Lucy  stood 
laughing  heartily  at  the  awkward  figure  he  made, 
with  all  his  four  heels,  as  she  called  them,  in  the  air. 

"  J  believe  he'll  run  away,"  said  Lucy. 

"  No,"  said  Robert ;  "  he  won't  run  away." 

"  And,  besides,  I  don't  believe  you  can  catch 
him,  and  put  his  bridle  on  again." 

"  Yes,"  said  Robert ;  "  I've  got  some  salt  in 
my  pocket,  on  purpose." 

Lucy  had  heard  of  catching  birds  by  sprinkling 
salt  on  their  tails,  and  she  stood  bewildered  and 
perplexed,  trying  to  imagine  how  this  method  was 
to  be  applied  to  Hero,  when  she  heard  her  moth- 
er calling  her.  So  she  turned  away  from  Robert, 
and  began  to  descend  the  bank,  towards  her 
mother,  calling  out,  — 

"  Yes,  mother  ;  I'm  coming." 

Robert  carried  the  bridle  to  the  wagon,  and  put 
it  in  ;  and  then  he  pushed  the  wagon  entirely 
out  of  the  road,  so  that,  if  a  team  were  to  come 
by,  it  would  not  run  against  it.  After  doing  that, 
he  followed  Lucy  and  her  mother  down  the  bank 
of  the  stream. 


167 

CHAPTER    XIII. 
THE   RETURN. 

They  found  a  very  pleasant  place,  indeed,  for 
their  luncheon,  under  some  shelving  rocks,  at  the 
angle  between  the  ravine  of  the  brook  and  the 
shore  of  the  pond.  They  could  see  the  whole 
surface  of  the  pond,  and  the  woods  and  mountains 
beyond.  There  was  only  one  house  in  sight,  and 
that  was  Mr.  Emery's.  The  unfinished  end  was 
turned  towards  them.  Lucy  took  out  a  mug 
from  the  tin  pail,  and  went  to  the  brook  to  c3i p  up 
some  water,  to  see  if  it  was  cool.  Her  mother 
told  her,  before  she  went,  that  she  had  no  doubt  it 
was  cool.  Lucy  found  it  as  her  mother  had  said. 
It  was  very  cool  indeed.  She  dipped  up  her 
mug  full  from  a  little,  deep  place  among  some 
stones  covered  with  green  moss.  It  looked  very 
cool,  and  it  proved  to  be  so  on  tasting  it. 

Lucy  brought  a  mug  of  it  to  her  mother. 

"  Mother/'  said  Lucy,  li  how  did  you  know  it 
was  cool  ?  " 

"  Because,"  said  her  mother,  "  brooks  become 
warm  when  they  flow  for  a  long  distance  across 
an  open  country  exposed  to  the  rays  of  the  sun. 
But  this  brook  comes  directly  down  from  the 
mountains,  flowing  through  the  woods  all  the  way  ; 
so  that  I  think  the  water  could  not  have  had 
time  to  get  warm." 


168     LUCY  AMONG  THE  MOUNTAINS. 

"  Where  does  it  come  from,  at  first  ? "  said 
Lucy. 

"  It  comes  from  a  spring,"  said  her  mother,  "  I 
suppose.  Some  springs  break  out  of  the  ground 
from  under  a  rock." 

"  What  makes  the  spring  ?  "  asked  Lucy. 

"  Why,  the  water  in  the  mountains  above,"  re- 
plied her  mother,  "  presses  down  in  among  the 
rocks,  and  wherever  ihere  is  a  crevice  in  the  rock 
near  the  surface  of  the  ground,  the  water  comes 
out." 

"  But  what  makes  there  be  water  in  the  moun- 
tains above?  "  asked  Lucy. 

"  It  comes  from  rains." 

"  Then  I  should  think  that,  when  it  had  done 
raining,  it  would  pretty  soon  stop  coming  out  in 
the  spring." 

"  No,"  said  her  mother ;  "  it  takes  a  great  while 
to  drain  off.  The  earth,  and  the  moss,  and  the 
roots,  and  the  stones,  hold  the  water  like  a  great 
sponge.  It  slowly  soaks  down,  and  gets  into  the 
crevices  and  fissures,  and  so  runs  out  in  a  steady 
stream,  wherever  a  fissure  or  any  opening  of  the 
rock  comes  out  to  the  surface.  Still,  if  it  has  not 
rained  for  a  very  long  while,  the  springs  begin  to 
grow  low,  and  some  of  them  stop  running 
entirely." 

They  staid  at  this  place  more  than  an  hour. 
After  they  had  eaten  their  luncheon,  they  rambled 
about  among  the  rocks,  and  along  the  shore, 
gathering  flowers.  Lucy  amused  herself  in  pick- 
ing up  pebbles  and  throwing  them  into  the  water. 


THE    RETURN.  169 

Robert  pointed  to  a  patch  of  green  leaves  which 
Were  floating  upon  the  water  at  some  distance 
from  the  shore,  and  said  that  that  was  a  field  of 
lily  pads. 

"  Lily  pads,"  repeated  Lucy  ;  "  what  are  lily 
pads  ? " 

"  Why,  that  is  where  the  pond  lilies  grow," 
said  Robert.  "  We  come  out  here  sometimes, 
and  get  them." 

"  I  never  saw  any  pond  lilies,"  said  Lucy. 
"  Are  they  pretty  ?  " 

"  O,  yes,"  said  Robert,  "  beautiful.  They  are 
white,  and  just  like  a  star;  and  when  they  are 
open,  they  are  as  big  as  the  palm  of  my  hand." 

"  I  wish  I  could  get  one,"  said  Lucy. 

"  I  would  go  and  get  you  one,"  said  Robert, 
"  if  it  was  the  right  season.  But  it  is  too  late ; 
they  are  all  gone  now." 

"  How  could  you  get  them,"  asked  Lucy's 
mother,  "  if  there  were  any  now  ?  " 

"  O,  we've  got  a  raft,"  said  Robert,  "  along  the 
shore  here  a  little  way.  The  boys  made  a  raft, 
and  we  come  and  go  out  on  that." 

"  Boys  1 "  said  Lucy's  mother  with  surprise. 
"  I  shouldn't  think  that  there  would  ever  be  any 
boys  here." 

"  O,  yes,"  said  Robert,  "  there  are  a  great 
many  boys  live  about  here." 

"  Why,  where?  "  said  Lucy's  mother.  "  Ex- 
cepting Mr.  Emery's  house,  1  have  not  seen  any 
signs  of  inhabitants  at  all.     It  is  all  desolation." 

There  were,  however,  a  great  number  of  farms 
IS 


170  LUCY    AMONG    THE    MOUNTAINS. 

lying  on  the  various  by-roads  around,  and  Lucy's 
mother  did  not  know  from  how  wide  a  circle  boys 
would  gather  to  get  lilies  from  a  pond. 

Lucy  asked  her  mother  to  let  her  walk  along 
the  shore  with  Robert,  and  see  his  raft. 

"  How  far  is  it,  Robert  ?  "  asked  her  mother. 

"  Only  a  few  stops,"  replied  Robert.  "  But, 
then,"  continued  he,  "  if  you  would  rather  not 
have  her  go  away,  I  can  bring  it  along  here." 

"  How  ? "  said  her  mother. 

"  O,  I  can  push  it  right  along,"  said  Robert. 

"  Well,"  replied  Lucy's  mother,  "  that  will  be 
the  best  plan." 

So  Robert  went  off  after  his  raft,  around  a 
point  of  land,  which  made  out  a  little  way  into 
the  pond,  while  Lucy  continued  rambling  about 
upon  the  sandy  beach,  near  her  mother. 

A  few  minutes  afterwards,  as  Lucy  was  stoop- 
ing down  to  pick  up  a  singular  piece  of  wood, 
which  had  been  curiously  worn  and  bleached  by 
the  water,  she  heard  her  mother  calling  to  her,  — 

"  Why,  Lucy  !  look  at  Robert." 

Lucy  looked  up,  and  saw  Robert  just  coming 
into  view,  with  his  raft,  around  the  point  of  land. 

"  Why,  he's  sailing  on  the  raft,"  said  her  moth- 
er. "  I  did  not  know  he  meant  to  come  in  that 
way.  I  thought  he  was  going  to  push  it  along 
by  the  shore." 

Robert  said  that  he  was  going  to  push  it,  it  is 
true  ;  but  he  meant,  push  it  by  means  of  a  pole, 
with  himself  upon  it.  Lucy  and  her  mother 
were  both  a  little  atraid  that  he  might  get  in ;  but, 


THE    RETURN.  173 

as  he  seemed  entirely  at  his  ease,  and  uncon- 
cerned, they  gradually  dismissed  their  fears,  and 
watched  his  progress  as  he  slowly  approached 
them.  Lucy  was  very  much  interested  in  the 
examination  of  the  raft,  as  it  drew  near.  It'  was 
made  of  logs  which  the  boys  had  cut  from  the 
woods,  with  smaller  pieces  laid  across  and  pinned 
on,  to  keep  it  all  together.  On  the  whole,  they 
concluded  that  it  was  a  very  strong  and  substan- 
tial raft.  Robert  sailed  about  upon  it  for  some 
time. 

Lucy  wanted  him  to  go  out  to  the  lily  pads,  to 
see  if  there  might  not  be,  possibly,  one  left ;  but 
her  mother  was  afraid  to  have  him  go  out  where 
\t  was  so  deep.  Besides,  Robert  said  that  he 
was  sure  that  not  a  single  lily  could  be  found,  for 
it  was  altogether  beyond  the  season  of  them. 

While  Robert  was  sailing  about  upon  his  raft 
in  the  shallow  water,  Lucy  had  a  long  conversa- 
tion with  her  mother  about  springs,  brooks,  and 
ponds.  Her  mother  told  her  that  ponds  were 
occasioned  by  there  being  a  natural  hollow  place 
among  the  mountains,  surrounded  by  high  land 
on  all  sides,  so  that  the  water  which  ran  into  it 
from  brooks  and  springs,  could  not  run  out  until 
it  rose  high  enough  to  run  over  at  the  lowest 
place  in  the  surrounding  land  ;  and  that  that  was 
the  outlet.  She  also  explained  to  her  how  it 
happened  that  some  brooks  ran  very  swiftly, 
tumbling  over  rocks,  and  others  flowed  deep  and 
smooth,  and  almost  still.  At  length  they  con- 
cluded that  it  was  time  to  go  home.  So  she  took 
15* 


174     LUCY  AMONG  THE  MOUNTAINS. 

% 

the  pail,  and  Lucy  and  her  mother  went  back 
up  the  ravine  to  the  road,  while  Robert  sailed 
back  on  his  raft  behind  the  point  of  land  ;  for  he 
said  that  he  must  put  the  raft  away  where  it 
belonged. 

Robert  did  not  come  back  to  the  mouth  of  the 
brook  again,  but  he  climbed  up  the  bank  into  the 
road,  at  the  place  where  he  fastened  the  raft. 
Lucy  and  her  mother  sat  down  upon  the  end  of 
one  of  the  great  logs,  on  the  side  of  the  bridge, 
and  waited  for  Robert  to  catch  the  horse,  and 
harness  him.  The  horse  was  grazing  by  the  side 
of  the  road,  at  a  little  distance  from  the  bridge; 
but  not  on  the  side  where  Robert  was  coming. 
Robert  therefore  had  to  go  across  the  bridge,  to 
catch  him.  As  he  was  passing  by  Lucy  and 
her  mother,  he  put  his  hand  into  his  pocket,  and 
took  out  something  folded  up  in  a  piece  of  brown 
paper. 

"  Is  that  the  salt  ?  "  said  Lucy. 

"  Yes,"  said  Robert. 

So  Robert  opened  the  paper,  and  began  to  call 
out  to  the  horse, — 

"  Hero  !   Hero !  Hero !  Hero !  " 

Hero  paid  no  attention  to  the  call,  but  went 
on  quietly  cropping  the  grass. 

"  Hero  !  Hero  !  Hero  !  Hero  !  "  said  Robert, 
walking  alon£  towards  him. 

Hero  lifted  up  his  head,  turned  it  deliberately 
towards  Robert,  looked  at  him  a  moment,  and 
then   put  it  down    again.     He    took   two   more 


THE    RETURN.  175 

# 

moulhfuls  of  grass,  and  then  turned  around, 
beginning  to  walk. towards  Robert. 

Robert  stopped  on  the  end  of  the  bridge,  and 
waited  for  him,  holding  out  the  paper  in  his  hand. 
When  Hero  got  near,  Robert  stooped  down,  and 
poured  out  the  salt  upon  the  plank  floor  of  the 
bridge.  To  Lucy's  surprise,  the  horse  came  to 
the  place,  and  began  to  lick  up  the  salt  with  his 
great  tongue.  While  he  was  doing  it,  Robert  put 
the  bridle  on.  Then  he  stood  still,  and  let  the 
horse  finish  eating  the  salt,  and  then  led  him 
away. 

"  I  shouldn't  like  to  eat  so  much  salt,"  said 
Lucy. 

Robert  harnessed  the  horse  into  the  wagon,  and 
then  they  got  in,  and  drove  away.  They  rode 
an  hour  or  two  by  a  way  which  went  winding 
around  among  forests  and  mountains,  sometimes 
opening  before  them,  so  that  they  could  see  wide 
prospects,  and  sometimes  shut  in  by  rocks,  and 
towering  trees,  which  overhung  the  road^  and 
made  it  sombre  and  solitary. 

After  a  time,  they  began  to  ascend  a  pretty 
sleep  and  winding  road,  shut  in  by  the  forests  and 
mountains.  Sometimes  they  had  by  their  side,  as 
they  travelled  slowly  along,  a  noisy  brook,  some- 
times a  morass,  covered  with  cedars  and  firs ;  and 
sometimes  an  impenetrable  thicket  growing  out  of 
steep  slopes  of  land  covered  with  moss,  and  rocks, 
and  trunks  of  fallen  trees.  All  this  time  they 
weie  constantly  ascending.  Still,  althougn  they 
were  gradually  gaining  a  high  elevation,  they  had 


176     LUCY  AMONG  THE  MOUNTAINS. 

no  prospect ;  for  tbeir  view  was  shut  in  by  the 
forests  and  mountains  all  around  them.  At  length, 
they  came  to  a  piece  of  road  which  was  level. 
The  horse  began  to  trot.  It  was  the  first  time 
that  he  had  trotted  for  nearly  half  an  hour. 

'*'  Here  is  some  level  road/'  said  Lucy.  "  I'm 
glad  of  it,  for  now  we  can  go  faster." 

"  Yes,"  said  Robert ;  "  we've  got  to  the  height 
of  land." 

"  What  is  that  ?  "  said  Lucy. 

"  Why,  the  highest  place.  Pretty  soon,  we 
shall  be  going  down  again." 

They  came  to  the  end  of  the  level  road  pretty 
soon,  and  then  began  to  descend  a  little ;  and 
presently,  at  a  turn  of  the  road,  they  came  out  to 
a  place  where  they  suddenly  had  a  very  extensive 
and  magnificent  prospect  opened  before  them. 

"  O  mother,"  said  Lucy, "  how  far  we  can  see ! " 

"  Yes,"  said  her  mother.  "  Stop  a  minute, 
Robert,  and  let  us  look  at  this  prospect. 

"  Why,  Robert,"  said  she  again,  in  a  moment, 
"  there  is  your  father's  house  !  " 

She  pointed  to  a  house  away  before  them,  very 
far  down  the  valley. 

"  Yes,"  said  Robert ;  "  we  can  always  see  it 
from  here,  very  plainly.  And  I  can  see  this  rock 
from  our  yard." 

Robert  pointed  to  a  great  rocky  precipice  by 
the  side  of  the  road,  and  he  said  that  they  once 
came  and  built  a  fire  upon  it,  and  his  mother 
could  see  the  smoke  at  their  door,  very  plainly. 
Lucy  was  very  much  surprised  to  see  how  low 


THE    RETURN-  177 

down  in  the  valley  the  house  appeared.  They 
could  see  the  stream  beyond  it,  and  Robert 
pointed  out  to  them  the  fording-place,  where  they 
had  crossed  on  their  way,  when  they  first  came  to 
the  General's.  The  General's  house  seemed 
now  to  be  nearly  down  upon  a  level  with  the 
water.  This  was  an  illusion,  occasioned  by  their 
high  position.  They  could  see  the  mill-pond, 
too,  and  the  bridge ;  and  Lucy  showed  her  mother 
the  green  store  where  she  and  Comfort  went  a- 
shopping.  She  tried  also  to  see  the  great  sto#e, 
where  they  got  caught  by  the  water  from  the  mill ; 
but  it  was  not  to  be  seen.  Lucy  thought  it  was 
hidden  by  the  mill. 

They  gazed  around  upon  the  prospect  for 
some  time,  and  then  Robert  began  to  move  on 
towards  home.  In  fact,  it  was  getting  near  the 
evening ;  and  they  saw  some  clouds  in  the  west, 
whicK  made  them  think  it  was  possible  that  there 
might  be  a  shower  cominsr. 

The  road  was  now  generally  descending  ;  so 
Robert  made  Hero  go  pretty  fast.  The  clouds 
behind  them,  however,  increased.  At  last,  one, 
blacker  and  larger  than  the  rest,  appeared  to  be 
coming  up,  and  Lucy's  mother  said  that  she 
believed  that  there  was  £om£  to  be  a  shower. 
But  she  was  mistaken.  It  rose  higher  and  higher, 
and  for  a  time  appeared  threatening;  but,  after 
all,  it  brought  nothing  with  it  but  a  gust  of  wind. 
After  this  had  passed,  the  sky  was  somewhat 
clearer,  though  the  sun  had  set,  and  the  twilight 
was  fast  coming  on.     Lucy  suddenly  discovered 


178     LUCY  AMONG  THE  MOUNTAINS. 

n  very  bright  star  in  the  middle  of  a  large  opes 
place  among  the  clouds  ;  and  she  exclaimed,  — 

"  O  mother,  see  that  star  ! " 

"  Yes,"  said  her  mother ;  "  that's  Venus,  I 
really  believe.     Yes,  it  must  be  Venus." 

"  The  evening  star  ?  "  said  Lucy. 

"  Yes,"  said  her  mother ;  "  see  how  bright  it  is ; 
and  yet  you  cannot  see  any  other  star  in  the  sky." 

Lucy  looked  all  around,  but  no  other  star  was 
to  be  seen.  The  sky  was  somewhat  obscured  by 
clouds  ;  but  in  the  spaces  between  the  clouds 
there  were  no  stars  to  be  seen. 

"  You  see,  Lucy,"  said  her  mother,  "  that  it 
would  not  have  done  any  good  for  you  to  have 
got  up  early  to  see  the  morning  star ;  for  Venus 
is  the  evening  star  now ;  the  sun  is  before  her." 

:(  Yes,  mother,"  said  Lucy. 

"  And  so,  being  before  her,"  continued  her 
mother,  "  the  sun  goes  down,  and  leaves  Venus  a 
little  way  up  in  the  sky.  Of  course,  when  he 
rises  in  the  morning,  he  leaves  Venus  a  little 
below  the  horizon,  where  she  is  out  of  sight." 

"  How  fast  Venus  goes !  "  said  Lucy. 

"  No,"  said  her  mother ;  "  it  is  the  motion  of 
the  clouds  which  makes  it  look  as  if  Venus  was 
going  fast.  But  yet  she  is  going  down  slowly. 
If  you  notice  how  high  she  is  now,  and  then 
again  when  we  get  home,  you  will  see  that  she 
has  gone  down  considerably." 

Lucy  said  that  she  meant  to  watch  Venus. 
But  she  did  not  watch  her  very  long,  for  her  at 
;ention  was  attracted  by  a  large  light,  some  dis- 


THE    RETURN.  179 

tance  before  them.  It  was  in  the  direction  of  the 
General's  house.  Lucy  and  her  mother  both  saw 
it  at  the  same  time.  Lucy  thought  it  was  a  beau- 
tiful light,  but  her  mother  was  frightened.  She 
was  afraid  that  it  was  the  General's  house  on  fire. 

"  No,"  said  Robert ;  "  it  is  not  our  house.  It 
is  this  side  of  our  house.  It  must  be  some  fire  in 
the  woods." 

"  But  who  should  be  building  fires  in  the 
woods  this  time  of  the  day  ?  "  asked  her  mother. 

"  I  don't  know,"  replied  Robert ;  "  only  I  know 
that  there  often  are  fires  about." 

As  they  went  on,  the  light  grew  broader  and 
brighter.  Presently  they  thought  they  saw  the 
flash  of  a  flame,  and  then  some  sparks  ascending. 

"  What  can  it  be  ?  "  said  Robert.  "  It  looks 
as  if  it  was  near  my  clearing.  There  !  "  he  ex- 
claimed again,  after  a  moment's  pause,  "  I  know 
what  it  is.  It  is  that  great  heap  which  we  tried 
to  set  on  fire." 

"  That  heap  ?  "  said  Lucy 

"  Yes,"  said  Robert ;  "  I've  no  doubt  it's  that 
heap.  The  fire  has  been  working  under  it  all 
day,  heating  it  through,  and  now  these  gusts  of 
wind  have  set  it  a-going." 

Robert  was  right.  Lucy's  mother  could  hardly 
believe  that  fire  could  have  remained  inactive 
under  such  a  heap  of  combustibles,  and  finally 
break  out,  after  so  long  an  interval.  But  it  was 
really  so.  The  wood  which  they  had  put  under 
it,  had  set  some  of  the  lower  parts  of  the  heap  on 
fire,  and  they  had  burned  away  slowly ;  while  the 


180  LUCY    AMONG    THE    MOUNTAINS. 

hot  air  and  gases,  rising  up  through  the  heap,  had 
been  gradually  drying  it ;  and  now  the  wind  had 
fanned  the  whole  up  into  a  flame.  The  light  of 
the  fire  grew  brighter  and  brighter  as  they  drew 
nearer,  although  they  could  not  get  a  distinct 
view  of  it,  on  account  of  trees  which  intervened. 
At  length,  however,  when  they  reached  the  part 
of  the  road  which  was  opposite  to  it,  the  whole 
burst  at  once  upon  their  view,  blazing,  crackling, 
and  roaring,  in  a  manner  almost  terrific.  Lucy's 
mother  said  it  was  quite  a  conflagration.  The 
whole  heap  was  a  burning  mass  from  top  to  bot- 
tom. The  forms  of  all  the  crooked  logs  and 
stumps  were  yet  preserved,  but  they  were  all  of 
the  brightest  red  ;  and  the  flames  curled  and  flashed 
above  in  the  most  furious  manner.  If  Hero  had 
not  been  an  uncommonly  docile  horse,  he  would 
have  fled  in  terror.  A  vast  column  of  smoke 
and  sparks  ascended  from  the  heap,  far  up  into 
the  dark  sky. 

They  looked  at  it  a  few  minutes,  and  then 
drove  home.  When  they  got  out  of  the  wagon, 
and  were  going  into  the  house,  they  stopped  a 
moment  on  the  door-step,  to  look  back  at  Venus 
and  the  fire.  Venus  was  just  going  down,  and 
the  bright  glow  of  the  fire  was  very  distinctly 
visible  behind  a  hill. 


THE    END, 


